


Tales Of A Reset Mind

by joacobanfield



Category: El Eternauta, Inside Out (2015), SCP Foundation, The House of the Dead (Video Games)
Genre: Complete, Crossover, Gen, No Romance, No Smut, Originally Posted Elsewhere, Weapons, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-10-31 13:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 21,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10900020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joacobanfield/pseuds/joacobanfield
Summary: Tales Of A Reset Mind is the story of 14-year old Nico, and his Emotions. They've been together since birth...almost a bit too much. A voice here, a clinck there, this kid is literally standing on the fine line that separates genius from insanity. The fact that he suffers extensive bullying is just the icing on the cake...But all this will go flying out of the window when our friend discovers a new world, and all of it's possibilities...and it's dangers.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Intercom](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/290361) by PotterPhantomKitten. 



One day, doesn't matter which, 14-year-old Nico was forced by his friends to watch  _ Inside Out _ . He had never heard of it before, or seen any trailers, and he  _ definitely _ didn’t know anything that could have prepared him for the upcoming shock...

The young boy didn't even suspect what those ninety-three minutes would do to him, that a period as long as a football match could change an entire life...

The Emotions inside his head  _ did _ know that, however…

As Nico made himself comfortable in his seat, he heard something. Almost like…a voice. He looked around for whoever had spoken, but couldn't find anyone. He shook his head. Perhaps it had just been another  _ mistake _ on his ears´ side, but he wasn't sure. Those goddamn things loved to screw with him anyways.

_ Shhh, he doesn't have to know! _

There it was again! The boy turned around, expecting to see...who? One of the bullies who had tormented him for the last couple of years? A silly little kid? Or perhaps a really bad prankster who couldn't keep his secrets?

Turned out, there was no one. He pressed his hands against his ears, trying to shut out the noise, but he might have as well left them open, for the voice had gone. To  _ where _ was still a mystery for him.

Tough it wouldn't take him long to find out.

After what seemed like forever, the screen lit up with an advertisement. It was the typical ad stuff, our van is awesome, you are not, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. 

He rolled his eyes at it, disappointed. How could  _ anyone _ make such a bad advertisement? The next one came, and he rolled his eyes at it, too. 

But  _ this _ time, he caught himself. Not because the ad was any good (because it wasn’t) but because, simply, it had been such a long time since he had rolled his eyes...

As advertisements kept going on and on (and  _ on _ , dammit), he started feeling...weird. Like something big was coming, but he couldn’t quite place his finger on  _ what _ , specifically. It could have been the unexpected start of his singing career, or a real-life action film, or perhaps he’d just fall asleep on someone and then realize it was the President of the United States or something. 

As the lights  _ finally  _ shut off, he looked beside him. Empty. He looked to the other side. Also empty.

_ Perfect. _ He thought.

_ Wait...this isn’t probably it. _

He didn’t know anything about it, but he was pretty sure  _ Inside Out  _ wasn’t about a volcano’s singing career. 

Still, it was one of the  _ Pixar _ shorts, and that meant he would remember it. Even if it was for its obviously-coming use of the Power Of Love.

As Riley’s Joy finally appeared onscreen, Nico felt something strange. A sense of... _ familiarity _ washed over him, like he’d already seen this film and was just waiting for the conclusion, like a long-awaited sequel.

However, he wasn’t the  _ only _ one feeling that way...

Inside his mind, five little energy beings were also waiting...waiting for the perfect moment to kick their plan into action. A moment they  _ knew _ , somehow, was coming.

Time passed. Scenes went by. As he watched it, Nico’s usually-logical analysis of the film went down the toilet as it did unexpected thing after another, until...

<< _ I´m sorry! Riley  _ **_needs_ ** _ to be happy _ !  >> said the movie´s Joy. A split second later, Nico´s Emotions looked at each other. 

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

-I´ll get the keys- said Sadness, opening a small locker to her right. She was not sure this could work…unless something special happened. Their plan would only work if they let  _ her _ in charge for once. Else, there would be another delusion and the cycle would restart…

A couple of seconds later, she returned with five keys. Each was pretty similar to a MUL-T-LOCK, save that their handles had different colors, one for each Emotion.

 

They walked closer to the Console. It had two levers and six buttons, four of them used to recall memory orbs. It was completely covered with Gloom.

They took positions in the following manner: Joy in front of the Console, Anger at her right, Sadness in front of him with Fear aside her, facing Disgust. They inserted their keys on small holes in the sides of the Console and turned them.

A single red button appeared between the levers, the blackness around it vanishing. It read "RESET".

-Do we watch it together?-asked Joy

-Together- everyone replied.

-Till the end- completed Sadness, looking at her shimmering companion. They both knew what was going to happen next, having put together the clues the film had given that only they could understand. 

They all grouped in front of the Console, joined hands, and waited for something shocking enough that even their host would jump. Something they knew was coming.

_ - _ Guys...are you  _ sure _ we want to go along with this?-Fear said, his voice trembling.

-Yes Fear.-Everyone else said.

-Don’t chicken out on me, pal.-Anger said, though even  _ he _ was also afraid.

-It’s just that...I don’t know what will happen, guys. With all this Reset business, it might go all wrong, and... _ I just don’t want to die!-  _ The nerve retorted.

-Hey Fear, calm down a sec. You  _ know _ we’ll be back in no time.-Joy answered. She couldn’t blame him, though. Heck, even  _ she _ was also afraid. After all, it was still technically suicide. But anything to wipe Gloom from the Console, anything to  _ finally _ retake control and not be limited to just the intercom…

-See, if you don’t want to, you won’t have to push the button, Fear. Which brings me to... _ who _ will push it?- Disgust asked, clearly not wanting to do so herself.

-I...I’ll do it. Calm down, Fear. We  _ will _ be fine. I promise.

_ A promise won’t matter much if we are all dead, Joy _ . Fear thought, but he said…

-Yeah...yeah. Thank you, Joy.

-No need to, Fear.- She said, turning towards the screen again.

When the film´s Joy fell into the Memory Dump, the "real" Joy, who had been leaning on the side of the Console, balled her fingers into a fist and hit the RESET button with all her strength, cringing and looking away, trying to brace for the upcoming pain...

The Mind World vanished, along with the five Emotions.

* * *

 

It was only a second, but to Joy it felt like thousands.

Seeing the world fading around her, darkness coming in from every direction, engulfing everything and everyone she had ever cared about, she had time for one -and only one- final thought.

_ I’m sorry, Nico. _

The darkness reached her, dissolving her feet, her legs, her dress...her head.

* * *

 

A split-second later, Joy re-appeared,  _ thankfully _ , in a shimmer of light and excitedly looked at the place around her.  She still kept her green dress, to her pleasure. Being stripped of the one object that had followed her during her entire life would have been frustrating, as well as probably pretty embarrassing.

 

She could only see pure blackness, save for the Mind’s Eye and a Console with a single button.  She knew the Short Term Memory shelves were  _ there _ , and where the big window was, but she couldn´t see them.  What she  _ could _ see, however, was the intercom. Oh, the intercom. She remembered the first time Anger had used it, and then when Nico and she had started talking…until it stopped working, or so Fear had said, the day the Gloom appeared, right after she had left.

She walked over to it, wanting to see if it worked, but stopped herself midway.

_ Console first.  _ She thought.  _ We can worry about the intercom later _ .

Decidedly, the golden Emotion walked up to the Console and pushed the one big button it had. It lit up, bright yellow, like that first time all those years ago…

A soft  _ clinck _ was heard from the Memory Generator. An orb popped out of it, shining with a bright, yellow light...perhaps a little  _ too  _ bright for a normal memory. Joy watched it roll upwards, illuminating the Short Term Memory shelves…

But then, the memory stopped on its path, right at the Sorter, as if unsure where to go. 

_ It's now or never.  _ Joy thought. _ If I want to carry out my not-so-Evil-Plan, this memory... _ she picked it up, gazing at the Core Memory holder, a brave expression in her face.  **_Needs_ ** _ to be Core.  _

She put down the orb on the path that led to the other Cores and watched it take its place among them, wondering whether she’d done the right thing, when she suddenly felt Sadness’ hand on her shoulder.

_ Did she see me?  _ The golden Emotion thought, fear showing in her face.

-We made it- She said, one of her rare smiles showing on her face.

Joy sighed, glad she hadn’t been found out.

Behind her, emerging from colorful shimmers of light, came the rest of her emotion companions, ready to try everything again…and do it right.


	2. Tales Of A Reset Mind- Part Three

Something horrible had happened that Wednesday.

Out of the blue, the Gloom had appeared on the Console, after Nico realized that his family had left him alone against the world _when he was eleven_ , when he had had that stupid visual hallucination and he would not tell anyone in fear that they would call him crazy.

The worst part, he had confused it with reality for _years_.

Inside, Joy was panicking, pressing each and every button a million times, trying  to remove the Gloom.

As the night went on, this seemed more and more hopeless. She gave up and sat on a nearby sofa with her other companions. Save for Sadness, who had a look of concentration in her face, everyone looked sad, but mostly afraid.

Perhaps they could Reset Nico's mind again? It might work…but sacrificing themselves was not supposed to be an everyday occurrence.

No, that wouldn't work. Joy would have to think up something else.

Their host lay down on his bed.

Inside, as if on cue, Sadness stood up.

“I know!”- She said. She walked over to the shelf that contained the Core Memories and picked up one of them: The Core Memory for Past Island, blood red, made a clink as it was removed from its place.

And then, after a couple of seconds, it turned blue.

This made Nico recall it, as Sadness placed it in the Mind's Eye, but not with Anger anymore.

This time, he began to cry, finally understanding the importance of sadness...as an exhaust port for all those pent up feelings, and, if necessary, as a distress signal, as a call for help.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened.

The sides of the Console opened, and more panels with more buttons emerged from them.

There weren´t six buttons anymore. They were a hundred, maybe more, and there was a space for everyone.

Sadness tried to push a button. Everyone remained seated, expecting the Console to turn blue...

It didn´t.

Instead of influencing Nico´s mood, a _bzzzzt_ was heard, as in a “wrong move” signal.

-What? - Asked Joy, getting up from her seat and pushing some buttons of her own. The sound was heard again, getting louder with each push. After a while (When everyone had a headache), a slip of paper was delivered via Recall Tube, landing on the overturned chair Anger had thrown in a tantrum.

**Console Upgrade Necessary for Complete Access. Estimated time: 18 Hours to finish.**

**-Grey, Head Console Mechanic.**

**PD: There is a surprise dream tonight!**

-Yeah. Tell us _now_ , Grey, after we all have a headache- complained Disgust, rustling through her locker in vain efforts to find some Advil pills.

-You guys better go to sleep. I´ll take Dream Duty for today…and we all need some rest, especially after Nico walked all those blocks back home.- Joy suggested, placing her hand on the new Console-And besides, I want to watch that “Surprise Dream” Grey told us about.

Nobody argued. It had been a really tough day, both physically and emotionally.

When Nico and her fellow Emotions went to sleep, Joy got a chair from the back of Headquarters, a lamp out of her locker and sat down to read the Mind Manual _On Console Construction and Specifics._

After an hour, she had found no useful data, so she gave up and saw what Dream Productions had for the night.

She was deeply surprised by seeing herself on the screen, and even more surprised to see her emotion companions and Nico destroy some kind of machine guarded by...

Was that an evil, orange copy of herself?

If it wasn´t, it definitely looked like one.

She was considering sending a note requesting a serious talk with Ace, the blue-hued Dream Director, but then dropped the idea.

 _Aw, well. It's Dream Productions, they have done crazier stuff!_ She thought before glaring at the Console.

-You're gonna work...someday.-

She leaned back on her armchair and waited for day to come.

* * *

 

The next day, after the usual boring Thursday lessons, Nico arrived to his house, turned off all the lights and began to listen to music, as he always did.

He went on for a while, singing and dancing a bit, until a new song played, the last one he had downloaded.

 

He paid attention to the lyrics.

-No…way…- Joy said. It was just _too_ specific, _too_ descriptive, _too_...sad.

The song was an exact description of the past and present.

The golden Emotion could not help it, the music made her remember too many things. Crumbling Islands, lost friends, mainly the one person who had been with her, while their host had no one...

A single tear appeared in the corner of her eye. Then,  another one. And another one.

Within seconds, Joy's quiet sobs had escalated into full-blown crying, only receding at Sadness' hug.

The golden Emotion could only think of a single word.

_Why?_

_Why did all of this had to happen to us? First the snake, then the schoolmates, then_ **_everyone_ ** _...why? N...Nico has almost no memory of those years. A few orbs, here and there and they’re all horrible. Why did you have to do that to him? Why? According to the guys over here, Nico was_ **_this_ ** _close to going crazy, he almost killed his only friend that one time, and it was all because…_

 _You failed him._ Said a little voice at the back of her head.

_You failed him and there is nothing you could have done about it._

_Admit it, Joy._

 

The other Emotions did not know what to do. _Joy_ was _crying_ ? Helplessly, _on the floor?_ That was not the Joy they knew. Yeah, she had opened up before, but this was different. She was in despair. She _needed_ help, but none of them knew how to give it.

Save for Sadness, who had gone to embrace her kneeling companion, everyone just stared at her, looks of uncertainty and concern in their eyes.

Nico did not hear Joy, but he could _feel_ her, each sob as an electric shock going through his body.

As if on autopilot, he turned towards his reflection on a closed window and opened his arms during the interlude, like he always did...

Then he paused. He dropped his arms and sat down. Something about that last shock had felt familiar, even if he couldn’t actually put his finger on it…

Then he remembered. A voice, a light, a different time. A _happy_ time.

He got up, twitching. Something told him he shouldn’t be doing that. He should be sitting down and ignoring it. He should stay home. He should go to school and get his grades.

But somehow, deep inside, a voice... _his_ voice, as clear as day, answered…

_Fine._

_I’ll do both._

He got close to the window and placed his hand on the glass, right where his reflection’s was.

Instantly, he felt something warm in his chest, right in the middle.

As if something had been fixed, something he had never known was broken.

Inside, all the buttons on the Console lit up, the construct itself shining with a bright white light.

The shimmering Emotion approached it, wiping her tears, and doubtfully pushed a button.

**_BOOM._ **

I’m not kidding. There literally _was_ a boom.

It hadn’t been the Console tough.

Inside, everyone looked at each other in panic as they walked behind the Idea shelf, praying (save for one) that what they thought had exploded _had not_ exploded.

It had exploded.

Fear’s eyes widened more than anyone would have thought possible. A plume of smoke raised off of Anger’s head, and even Joy’s aura flickered.

There was a hole in the wall where the intercom used to be. A couple of mesh strings lay on the floor, smoking, but besides them, there was nothing left of the device that had become so crucial the last couple of days.

And if the intercom was gone, that meant…

-Oh, no.- Fear said. -Out of all the things, no, no, no, _NO! JOY!_

 _-_ F-Fear? Are you alright?

- _NO, JOY! DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS? IT MEANS THAT…_

- _He can speak to us!_ \- Sadness said. Under her breath, Anger could have sworn she had said something like “Schist”, but he didn’t have time to chide her over that.

Outside, Nico was puzzled. He was pretty sure he had heard them before. Heck, he even had had entire _conversations_ with one of them. But just in case, he decided to clear the air with a question. Maybe he was wrong, maybe they were evil, but he had to try. He took a deep breath...and dropped his bomb.

-Who said that?

* * *

Joy knew what to do. She had been _waiting_ for this.

Before anyone could say anything, she had already started talking, info-dumping him about themselves, the Mind World, and how it affected him, occasionally interrupted by Fear screaming in terror.

-Joy...where are the others? Can I...speak to them too? - Nico inquired, anxiously waiting to meet the other little voices inside his head, if they even existed.

-Of course! I'm not the only one here. Come on guys, say hello!

-My name is Sadness. - The blue Emotion said, looking downwards as if her slippers had become the most interesting thing in the universe.

Because, deep down, she knew this was wrong. Hosts were not supposed to speak to their emotions...that never ended well, the Mind Manuals said so.

But perhaps Nico could have a happy ending, she thought. As retribution, like Anger would say.

-Well, since you already met Joy and Sadness, I am Disgust. I am the one that keeps you _you._

-And you do one heck of a good job! Especially when we team up. Then you stand up by yourself against your moral enemies!-Anger said-What? It's the truth!- He answered to Disgust's eye roll.

-So you're Anger?

-Of course I-

He was interrupted by Fear's screaming and running all over the place, then by Nico inquiring on the racket's origin, which Joy revealed.

-It's just Fear here freaking out because we are talking to you. He isn't taking it very well- She sidestepped to avoid him, and then ducked under his flailing arms- It seems.

-Want us to fix it? - Suggested Anger, an evil grin on his face.

Outside, Nico smiled mischievously.

-Of course.

Joy picked up a memory orb, took aim...and threw it right into Fear's path.

The orb hit him in the head, causing him to collapse to the floor with an "Ooowww".

* * *

 

-Do you forgive us?-She resumed an older topic- For screwing up...for allowing them to...- Joy pleaded, but was interrupted by Sadness..

-I think you have to know the whole tale this time.-She suggested. It was a risky gamble…but again, they would have to do it someday, and the sooner it was the better.

-I guess I should…so we can avoid that happening again-

- _It can´t._ \- Corrected Anger, raising his voice slightly.

-Much better then. Bring it on, Sadness. I´m ready.

-Well, one winter day, when you were in seventh, during a break, you were cold…-

-And I tried to seek human warmth and everyone left, didn´t they? It was _that_ day… –Nico remembered.

-Then, I…I…-

-Created a sad Core Memory, and I didn´t accept it, tried to dispose of it, and got sucked out of Headquarters! - Spilled Joy, anxious to tell him her huge mistake that had resulted in the first stages of Gloom.

-You **_WHAT?!_ **

**_-_ ** Hey, don´t be mad at her! She was doing what she thought was right! Remember, you too had a part on this! If you had allowed yourself to- Anger interposed himself between Joy and the intercom, ready to keep on talking, but Disgust interrupted him.

-Great job keeping it subtle, Anger. Now can you please continue with the story, Sadness?

-Yeah. Anyway, then Joy fell into the Memory Dump when she tried to get back via the connection on Music Island, along with…

-I know who that was. She…told me.

-It was…him. Please…please don´t be mad at me, I wouldn´t be able to take it, please, forgive me…just this one time, _for the good old times_ , pleasepleaseplease _please!_ -Pleaded Joy, almost sinking to her knees. This was a decisive, critical moment in Nico´s life…and it all depended on what his next words were.

 

This, Joy thought, would have a happy ending or an incredibly bad one. She was shivering, her aura flickering between blinding and barely noticeable, waiting for Nico´s words…And then, they came.

-I…I forgive you, Joy. Blaming any of you is like blaming myself, isn´t it? And Anger here said it can´t happen again. But Joy…you learnt the lesson, didn´t you? That Sadness is…

-A necessary part of life. Yeah, she did, right after speaking to you the other time.

-...Thank you, Nico. I mean it, I really do. And I did indeed learn from that. - Joy was about to cry tears of...well, joy. She felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders, now that Nico had forgiven her.

The golden-hued Emotion walked over to the Console, examining it, taking in the huge amount of buttons, the Curse Word Library (The _Adaptive Insult_ button _really_ caught her attention.) She then started pushing some, and moving some levers…each action lifting Nico´s mood higher.

Just like she’d planned.

 _Because, what did it matter that they screwed up? They are here, they fixed it, and they can´t do it again_ ! Nico thought. _Just think of all the possible ways they could help me…_

Then, Joy pushed a final, smaller button, and a chime was heard in Headquarters, prompting everyone to look at the Memory Generator.

It had been _the_ chime.

A new Core Memory, bright yellow, had been formed, and had taken its place next to the others.

The Island it created had gigantic statues for each Emotion, spinning on a large silver base.

-Nico, we just made another Core Memory… A yellow one. - She added.

- _What?_ \- Their host replied.- Let me guess, it´s one for you?-

-Em…yes.-

-So, what about a name for it? Like Emotion Island or something?-

-Emotion Island it is then!-

 

The golden Emotion, glowing more than normal, was anxiously waiting for the night.

She wanted to see Nico.

She wanted to bring him to Headquarters, and she knew how to do it.

It would be like a dream come true for her...to see him at last.


	3. Tales Of A Reset Mind- Part Nine- Part One

Nico was once again lying on his bed, unable to sleep. He had had _ another _ rough day, especially after he had tried to jump three stairs at the same time. He´d managed to land properly, but his foot still hurt. Badly.

He turned around, facing the empty bedroom...when suddenly, he heard a long, ominous,  _ hissing _ sound.

- _ AHH! _ \- Fear yelled-  _ Joy, it´s, it´s...THE SNAKE IS BACK! _ -

He was indeed right. Out of the blue, Nico´s most hated hallucination was again standing in front of him , clutching her long wooden shaft just like she had done so many years ago…

A memory orb descended from the ceiling, and the Mind’s Eye changed to show another, even darker bedroom with a beautiful oak door, and standing in the middle of the doorframe...her. 

The snake-lady, or  _ Miss Hiss _ as Nico had called her, had proceeded to bash his brains in with that big stick of hers that time. But not  _ this _ time, the boy thought, even though she was closing in. He was getting ready to fight-to grapple and punch for the sake of his existence- when a tiny little voice appeared inside his head, telling him exactly what he needed to do.

-Anti-Hallucination protocol, Nico!- Anger said Inside, taking command of his section of the Console and pressing a handful of buttons.- This time  _ you _ get  _ her. _

Nico rolled his eyes and took his hand from below the mattresses.

One was to wonder, how was he supposed to take on a snake-lady hybrid that was not only faster, stronger, and better equipped, but that had also  _ kicked his ass  _ in another occasion, all that while empty-handed?

The answer was, he was  _ not _ empty-handed. A long time ago he had found the perfect solution for dealing with his hallucinations...a solution that  _ reeked _ of him.

If they couldn’t be destroyed or eliminated with what was real, then all he needed was a change of perspective. Fight fire with fire.

And that’s why he aimed his palm at her just as she was about to attack, and urged his brain to think of lightning bolts.

**_Z-ZZAP!_ **

A strong smell of ozone filled the air as a small lightning bolt, barely visible but  _ very  _ powerful,  erupted from his hand and hit the poor snake-lady, right in the middle of the forehead. She disappeared, of course, but that didn’t mean she was  _ gone _ .

Nah. She’d come back eventually. They  _ all  _ did. Even Magician did, and he’d been trying to do Nico in since 2008. He always failed, of course, but a handful of times he’d come pretty close.

But that didn’t matter anymore. Miss Hiss was gone. Nico could go to sleep. Everything was aaaaalllllriight.

_ There. I  _ **_finally_ ** _ had my revenge! I can’t believe it. Still, how did she get here anyway? The last time I had a warning, remember?   _ The boy thought as he closed his eyes, ready to sleep. He wondered what Dream Productions had for the night...

-We have no idea, Nico- Joy answered.- But hey, at least you managed to off her  _ this _ time!

\- I have to admit it was fun. Heh, I think I won´t 

forget  _ this  _ time she came either..

Suddenly, an explosion was heard from outside Headquarters, prompting Fear to turn around and look at the window for any signs of a catastrophe.

Unfortunately, he found one. 

Far away, in Imagination Land, he could see the obvious signs of a battle being waged. As he watched, one of the bridges going over Abstract Thought collapsed over the chamber. The rumbling sound, audible even inside Headquarters, caused all of the Emotions to cringe before turning around, or, in Fear’s case, scream their heads off.

_ What was that?  _ Nico thought.  _ I know stuff here tends to explode, but not with  _ **_that_ ** _ of a bang. _

-We don't know, but it sure looks bad!- Fear replied, his eyes wide with panic.- There is stuff exploding around and inside Imagination Land, and it  _ sure _ doesn't seem like a bad ride malfunction!-

_ Hmm. Can you contact the ILDF? _

-Sure.- Said Disgust, picking up a small radio from behind the Idea shelf.

-Imagination Land Defense Force, this is Disgust speaking. What´s going on down there?-

The other Emotions watched her as the answer was relayed, getting more and more worried by the expression on her face, since few had been the times when Disgust had felt  _ real _ fear. 

It looked like that number had gone up by one.

-Disgust?- Asked Sadness- What...what happened?

The green Emotion spoke up, her voice trembling.

-There...there has been a Subconscious breach- (Fear covered his mouth in horror) -They...they need us down there, and they need us  _ now. _ -

-But what will happen to Nico? We...we can't just  _ leave _ …- Sadness replied, a look of worry on her face.

_ I have an idea for that. It's dangerous, but if they need  _ **_all_ ** _ of you...it is the only way. Sorry, but I´ll have to hijack the Console. _

-Nico, don´t! There has to be another way! Remember what happened the last time!- Fear complained.

_ There was no last time, Fear. Real life isn't Intercom. Besides, it's the only way. _

The purple Emotion sighed.

-Do I have to go?- He said- If it  _ is _ a Breach there’s gonna be some pretty scary stuff and...and…- 

-Fear, please...Nico needs you. I’m going too…- Sadness said, a pleading look on her face.

Fear sighed once again. -Fine. I’m going. But I’m still unsure about that whole hijacking-the-Console thing...it might hurt you, Nico,  _ a lot!  _ You could damage it, or Headquarters, or even  _ yourself _ !-

_ Fear, it is the only way. _

-No it’s  _ not _ , Nico. Why don’t you just try to  _ fall asleep  _ instead _?- _ Anger suggested.

There was a pause.

_ Silly me, didn’t think of that. Yes, I think that’s what I’ll do. But… _

-What, Nico?- Joy inquired.

_ Can you do that thing to the Console again? _

-What, bring you here?-

_ Yep. They might need some... _ **_tactical support._ **

-Sure thing, Nico!- She chuckled.

With that, Joy started pushing some very specific buttons in a very specific sequence, the only way to get Nico into the state between wakefulness and REM they needed for him to lucid dream.

-Done over here, Nico. Now you should sleep...and I won’t wish you sweet dreams, because you won’t have them. Most likely, this is gonna be a very long night...a night of facing your worst fears. But don’t worry. This time around, you won’t be alone.  _ This  _ time,  _ you _ are  _ going _ to win. I promise.-

Outside, Nico’s eyelids  closed as the boy started to feel just as if he were floating away…

__________________________________

-Guys, we have one minute before Nico arrives! I need you to prepare for the trip. You heard Andrew, we have to go there  _ now. _ \- Joy said, urging the others up the stairs to their rooms.

-Disgust- Sadness stopped midway and glanced at the green Emotion, a look of worry in her face. -Did Andrew tell you how many enemies there are? How many levels of breach do we have to contain?-

- _ All of them _ , Sadness. Apparently, Nico’s previous fears were not erased from the Subconscious, but sealed deeper instead. And somehow, they’ve managed to get out. Now, all of them, everything Nico has ever feared,  _ is out there. _ -

- _ All of them _ , Disgust, are you su…-Fear’s eyes suddenly opened wide with horror, his gaze fixed on the window…- **_MISSILE!_ **

J oy turned around just in time to see the orange warhead inches away from the window…

She saw the red-and black helicopter that had fired it…her mouth opened in surprise as she actually  _ recognized _ it...

**_BA-WHOOM._ **

The window shattered into a million pieces, covering the Emotions in a wave of broken glass, the shockwave sending them off the railing and headfirst onto the floor.

-G-guys...I recognize that chopper...it’s General Failure!- Fear guessed, extricating himself from the tangled mess his companions were.

> - _ Hey, reader. Yes, you. Hi. Anyway, Failure is a dream character. He tends to fail in the most spectacular ways, but sometimes, and only sometimes, he succeeds. Hope me talking to you was not too creepy. Disgust out. _

-Nico doesn’t fear him, genius!- Disgust answered, getting up from the floor as she hoisted Anger up.

Sadness opened her mouth as if to say something, but she was interrupted by the sound of another missile being fired, this time directly towards the Console.

_ What an idiot. - _ Anger thought-  _ We are made of  _ **_energy_ ** _ , you little...but of course! He doesn't want to harm  _ **_us_ ** _ , he wants to hurt  _ **_Nico!_ **

_ - _ He’s gunning for the Console!-He said, and without a second thought, jumped straight into the missile’s path. The detonation sent him flying sideways, where he crashed into the Idea shelf, his outfit torn to shreds.

-ANGER!- Joy yelled. _. _

-YOU’RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT, FAILURE!- Disgust yelled as she picked up the closest memory orb (One of Nico chopping garlic for dinner) and threw it towards the helicopter.

Her efforts were met with a  _ clang _ of success when the sphere managed to dent  the chopper’s blades, also damaging the rotor itself. The helicopter was forced to fly lower and vanished out of sight.

They were safe...for now.

-He’s gone...- Sadness said as she rushed to Anger’s side and helped him up. He seemed slightly dazed, but fine overall.

- _ Who’s _ gone, Sadness?- Amidst the commotion, the Emotions hadn’t noticed that Nico had just arrived.

-NICO!- Before the blue Emotion could reply, Joy was already crushing the boy in a hug. After a couple of seconds she let go and, her face now bearing a serious, determined expression, started to brief him on the situation.

After she finished, Nico looked at her, his eye twitching from nervousness.

“-I guess I can help out...but I’m not much of a fighter. You  _ know  _ that. I’m also your weak spot. You people are made from indestructible Emotion stuff ™ , and I am not. Are you aware of that? If I die, it’s a major screwup. Don’t get me wrong, I  _ still  _ want to bash Magician’s face in, but if you want me down there, we have to be careful. Understood? 

-Also, I want you to know a few things.

-First: It’s gonna be pretty scary out there. You might see things you do not want to see, and might never be able to unsee. But you have to keep fighting, mmkay? If you won’t do it for me, do it for yourselves. This is a situation that concerns us all.

-Second: No heroics. Nobody is leaving anyone behind, understood? 

-And third: Um, well, nothing, actually. Anyway, E-Squad, let’s get dangerous. Roll out!”

 

_ -That’s  _ how you talk, Nico. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I´ll go change into a new outfit.- Anger walked towards his room, promptly vanishing out of sight.

-Anyway...how are we gonna  _ get out there?  _ If we take the Train, Failure will blast it to smithereens, we can’t fly, and I definitely feel like teleporting in the middle of a warzone might be dangerous- Fear said, sitting down on the floor to think of a way out.

-Sadness…

-Yes, Disgust? 

-About that...Nico never feared Failure.  _ Why is he here? _

-You’re right, Disgust, but what Nico really  _ does  _ fear is his emotions being hurt or killed -The blue Emotion looked towards the window, contemplating the Islands outside. -General Failure might be a representation of that…

-Oh,  _ great _ , he’s got to face his abstract fears also. Great. Just great. -Disgust answered, sarcasm palpable on her voice -You done up there, Anger? - She raised her voice slightly so that he would hear her.

The red Emotion suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs, donning a suit that was equal to the damaged one down to the last detail.

-We’re all ready to go then? - Nico asked.

-Yes, Nico. About that, I’ve been thinking...if we want to get to Imagination Land safely  _ and  _ destroy Failure’s copter...- Fear made a pause, a broad grin on his face-  I think it’s time to give those starfighters a  _ spin _ .

__________________________________

-You never told me you had starfighters...- Said Nico, mouth open in surprise.

-Did you ask? 

The boy smiled.

-Um, no. Let’s just go get them so that we can deal with this thing.

The Emotions led him to a small door right beside the Idea shelf. As Fear input the password (“Swordfish”) Nico suddenly realised…

-Guys... _ I don’t know how to fly a spaceship _ .

-Well, er, that’s why you’ll go with Fear! He’s the best pilot we’ve got, so I’m sure you’ll be OK with him if anything bad happens. -Joy answered, as everyone entered the hidden elevator behind the door.

Nico turned around and gave Headquarters a final glance.

-See you soon, HQ.- He said, nostalgia barely noticeable in his voice.

He waved goodbye just as the elevator doors closed. After a minute of descent, they slowly opened, leaving Joy and Sadness free to enter a  _ Nagato-class _ starfighter. Said ship, which was hanging by the rear thrusters from the ceiling, had a small, ovoid bridge connected to two rear “wings” by a thin, short  corridor. As the two Emotions boarded the ship, the doors closed, blocking Nico´s view. He tried to watch it, to take in every single detail as the doors were closing, but it eventually vanished from sight. The boy turned around, facing the rest of his Emotions.

- _ Nagatos? _ -He said, an expression of awe in his face.

> _ -Let’s not get sued. Nagato-class starfighters are from “4th Moon of Xyth” , used with permission. _

-Yeah. -Disgust answered. - Three of them. Took the mind workers a whole month to install them. And let’s not even get started on those hangar exits. They only  _ seem _ solid from the outside, but, in fact, they are completely pass-through. 

-Which is why Failure hasn’t blown them up yet. -Anger said as the doors opened again. He and Disgust left the elevator. Before they managed to board the ship, the doors closed, and the lift resumed its downwards movement.

-Just you and me now, Nico. -Fear said as the door opened for a third time. They stepped into a small hangar, which not only shared its predecessors’ blue-coloured walls, but also had a  _ Nagato _ hanging upside down from the ceiling. As Nico watched the ship both shocked and excited at the possibility of being   _ inside of it _ , a small trapdoor opened where the bridge’s roof was.

The boy climbed in first, letting himself fall on a large black wall (which, he later realised, must have been the viewscreen). After landing, he started examining the ship’s interior from his unusual perspective; the red chairs, walls and floor, the helm, and a strange, Console-like construct at the back of the bridge, filled to the brim with keyboards and screens.

-That’s weapon control, Nico. -Fear said as Nico walked towards it, trying not to slip on the curved “floor”. -You’ll take it while I drive...and before you say  _ anything _ about not knowing, the blue button cycles between lasers and missiles, the green one locks on and the red one fires. Just  _ try _ to not friendly fire on the rest of us, okay? We already have enough trouble as it is, with the helicopter and goodness-knows-what out there.

-Got it, Fear. And…about the rest of the buttons? Shouldn’t I know what they do too? You know, just in case?- The boy said, eyeing a black one below a safety casing.

-You won’t need them now, and especially not  _ that  _ one.-Fear’s hand quickly moved Nico’s away from the casing- Besides, we don’t have the time for that.

The boy opened his mouth to ask why, but was interrupted by the viewscreen lighting up below him, showing Disgust’s anxious expression.

-Looks like you’re not ready yet. Better strap yourselves in, slowpokes, because  _ we _ are. Be quick. Disgust out.

The screen shut off, and both Nico and Fear strapped themselves to their respective chairs. (They both had to climb several over several sections of the floor to reach them, the ship being upside down).

The purple Emotion sent a transmission to the other two ships. “Ready”.

“Ready”. He received two identical replies just as the ship broke free from its restraints and flew outside, where the other two were already waiting, flying circles around each other.

-Where’s Failure?- Anger said over the viewscreen, his top visibly hotter. Disgust, who was also visible and strapped to the pilot’s seat, tried to inch away from it as much as her restraints let her...which wasn’t much, honestly.

-I found him, guys! The screen suddenly changed to show Joy, her eternal smile now brighter than usual. -He’s on the other side of Headquarters, some distance below the window. Still damaged and smoking.

-He’s  _ MINE, everybody. _ Let’s see how  _ he _ likes getting missiled for once.- Anger said as Disgust flew their fighter to the other side of Headquarters.

\- Firing!- He said. Over the screen, Nico and Fear could hear a button (most probably the red one) being hit multiple times, each one more violent than the last. 

One, two, three black missiles flew from the ship’s belly, leaving black smoke trails behind them as they closed in to Failure’s helicopter. 

The first one hit the rear rotors, sending the chopper out of control, spinning as even more smoke erupted from it.

The second one destroyed what was left of the rotor, raining metal on the cabin, which was directly struck by the third missile. The resulting explosion split the helicopter in two and sent it falling towards the Memory Dump, where it hit the floor with a loud  **crash** .

-Better luck next time, failure.-Anger muttered, a smile on his face.

-Next stop; Imagination Land!- Joy said as the trio of starfighters headed for their destination. Her face disappeared from the viewscreen, letting Nico see the beautiful night sky. As he spotted a constellation, Nico decided…

_ This place is worth fighting for. Heck, it’s worth  _ **_everything_ ** _ , including my very own sanity. In here, I don’t think I could be afraid of  _ **_anything_ ** _. So come, you little subconscious critters. We  _ **_will_ ** _ destroy you, _ **_once_ ** _ and for  _ **_all_ ** _. _

-Hey, Nico- Fear said, his hands slightly trembling on the control stick-Are you  _ sure _ you want to do this?

-Can’t hear you, Fear. I’m too busy pushing random buttons over here.

The purple Emotion suddenly turned around, a horrified expression on his face...only to find Nico completely motionless in his seat, looking at him and smiling.

-Got you, Fear.

Said Emotion sighed and resumed his piloting. 

- _ Wow,  _ is Joy really gonna…

Nico had turned around to face the viewscreen, which showed one of the starfighters…

-Yes, she’s doing barrel rolls- Fear confirmed, rolling his eyes much like Disgust would´ve done. - _ Again. _

-Poor, poor Sadness.

-I´m more worried about  _ that _ tough. You know, the Breach.

-Hey, Fear, it´s most likely just...zombies or something like that.

The purple Emotions set the ship to autopilot and turned his seat around to face Nico.

-How do you know that?- He said, crossing his arms. -You  _ know  _ there is  _ much recent  _ stuff in there. Not just  _ zombies _ . 

-Well,  _ yes… _

\- You should have stayed hom...I mean, Headquaters. It´s just  _ much too dangerous to have you here. _ We still don’t know  _ anything  _ about this, and most certainly nothing at all about damage taken in the Mind World!

Nico sighed. He knew Fear was right, and said Emotion certainly knew he did.

Thankfully, the viewscreen changed to an image of the RSS Hiroto, the large, pentagon-shaped starship that Nico and his Emotions had visited more than once on Imagination Land.

-Remember the ILDF?- Anger´s voice was heard, uneasiness creeping into it. -They´re taking defensive positions around the Hiroto. What's  _ left _ of them anyway.

-Do you mean that…- Fear asked.

-Yeah. They're getting their butts kicked down there. They need help, and they need it  _ now. _

Suddenly, the image on the viewscreen changed to that of a middle-aged man, who appeared to be on the Hiroto´s bridge. He looked extremely distraught, clutching the pistol in his hand like it was his lifeline. His  bright green clothes stroke a sudden contrast with the black-and-red wall he was standing in front of.

-General Andrew here, reporting for duty.

-Andrew!- Joy said from her ship. -You fine?

\-  _ I  _ am, but  _ we _ are getting our butts kicked down here! There are just  _ too many _ of those goddamn things.

-We’re on our way, Andrew. -Nico spoke up, causing the general to jump a little in his seat.

-Wait a second, are you telling me that you’ve actually brought  _ Nico _ with you?

\- Yes, Andrew, he’s here. Anything wrong with that? -Disgust asked, most probably rolling her eyes (Or so Nico thought, at least)

-Well,  _ No _ , but make sure to keep him away from... _ NonononoGETAWAYFROMTHATDOOR!  _

There was a loud, horrible crunching noise followed by gunfire. Nico watched in silence as Andrew fired towards something offscreen…

Static cut the transmission.

-No!- Joy yelled -Everyone, find a place to land!-

_ Just hold on for a couple more minutes, Andrew.  _ She thought.  _ The cavalry is coming. _

_ ___________________________________________ _

A minute later, the three ships touched down on the entrance to Imagination Land. The six crewmembers promptly rushed inside, where devastation awaited them.

-...What have they  _ done _ to it?- Nico asked, his voice trembling with both sadness and rage.

He had every reason to ask. Towering above him, the large, white structure that used to be the Random Number Generator had been... _ changed _ .

Multiple drums filled to the brim with  _ some kind _ of fluid had been connected to a brand new conveyor belt, and the screen above, which usually showed one number, now showed two. As he watched, a woman pushed a button on a nearby, also new console, and the numbers above began to change...One at first, then, one by one, the rest, slowly formed the number  _ 1370. _

Nico didn’t even flinch. He was much too stunned. He watched in silence as something human-sized, something metallic, slid down the conveyor belt onto the floor. 

The loud  _ clang  _ it made snapped him back to reality. As the lady shook her head in disappointment, Nico pulled out a pistol from thin air -He was  _ inside _ his imagination, after all- and shot the woman several times, twice in the chest, once in the stomach. She fell forward, pushing several buttons on the console in front of her. More numbers flashed above, forming the number  _ 682 _ .

A countdown started below them as the drums went overdrive, pumping liquid into the Random Number Generator as fast as they could.

_ 0:30 _

The metallic object, which strongly resembled a human, got up from the floor and faced the group of six.

-I am Darth PesterBot! You shall kneel before me, or  _ perish _ !

 

_ 0:26 _

Nico looked at the robot, then at the Generator again. 

And then it hit him. The final product wasn’t at all random, it depended  _ entirely _ on the number’s result, and if those flashed  _ 682 _ …

> _ -You can find them both as SCPs  _ [ _ 1370 _ ](http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1370) _ (By Sorts) and  _ [ _ 682 _ ](http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-682) _ (By Dr Gears). But please don’t browse that site at 2:30 AM...for your own good. _

_ 0:23 _

He closed his eyes and focused on the Random Number Generator.

The seconds went past, each one seeming slower than the rest.

-Um, Nico? What...are you doing?- Sadness asked him.

-Wait- He replied in the softest of whispers, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead.

_ 0:10 _

_ 0:09 _

_ 0:08 _

_ 0:07 _

_ BOOM. _

The Random Number Generator exploded in a massive fireball. Nico ducked, once again using his imagination to shield him and his Emotions from the expanding wave of heat.

-Show-off...- Disgust muttered.

-You FAILED! Your explosion did not manage to destroy  _ ME _ , the lord of all evil, Darth…

Anger looked at the robot before turning to Nico.

-You kept him alive for  _ what _ ?

-Um...entertainment value?- The boy said over 1370’s evil cackling. Said character then attempted to wrestle a nearby plant’s leaves off before falling to the floor with another loud  _ clang _ .

-Whatever. - Disgust answered. She turned around to watch the smoldering remains of the Random Number Generator and the hill behind it, the last obstacle to overcome before they reached the Hiroto.

And whatever was inside it.

-Shall we move on?- She said.

A voice, a cold,  _ hissing _ voice came from the top of the hill.

_ I don't think so _ . 

From behind it, dozens, perhaps hundreds of shapes started to climb down, closing in towards Nico and his Emotions.

_ Too many to shoot down _ , he thought.

The mysterious figures kept on coming, advancing relentlessly towards them.

-Nico, can you, um, I dunno,  _ MAKE THEM VANISH?! _ They are freaking me out.- Anger said, urgence palpable in his voice.

-I can´t, Anger. They are foreign presences. Besides, what fun would  _ that _ be? 

Finally, the coming crowd slowed to a halt. They were around two hundred, all of them snake-ladies like the one Nico had just seen Outside.

_ Greek Mythology Island.  _ Sadness thought.  _ Did Nico really fear a small army of monsters? _

_ Yes, Sadness...about three years ago, I did.  _

_ I would like you to meet my friends. They have proven quite useful in subduing your forces, Nico. In fact, I think I´ll skip my gloating just for the pleasure of seeing you die earlier.  _ The voice spoke again, louder, as if it were coming from each of the  _ dracaenae _ .

Each carried a long, iron-tipped spear and a gleaming bronze shield. They looked at Nico and his Emotions hungrily,  as if they were the next course in the menu.

_ Goodbye, Nico. _

- _ DUCK!-  _ He ordered, taking cover behind a piece of wreckage. 

_ Thud, thud, thud _ . The sound of thrown spears hitting the ground unnerved him. If the others didn’t make it in time...

Joy appeared beside him, dragging Sadness along. Neither had been impaled yet, which was fine with Nico. He didn’t want his Emotions hurt, that’s for sure.

In fact, he’d started thinking what would happen if he  _ had _ to hurt them someday…

 

Anger and Disgust ducked next to him, her dress cut in a corner.

_ Oohhh, they hurt Disgust’s dress. Those snake people are  _ **_doomed_ ** _.  _ The boy thought, before realising…

Where was…?

Behind them, Fear screamed in pain. Turning around, the boy saw the three-foot-long stick that had impaled him, right in the middle of his chest and coming out the other side. 

Fear collapsed, eyes wide open with surprise.

And Nico froze. 

_ Fear is dead.  _ He thought.  _ Dead...and it was all because of...of  _ **_me_ ** _...I...I... _

He started to shiver and twitch almost as if his brain was trying, and failing, to process what had happened, that one of his Emotions was gasping for air on the floor, his chest pierced by a meter-long stick...

_ One down, five to go. _

-No...no... **_NO!_ **

Around him, the air crackled.

And Nico´s rage exploded.

_ -Boom _

___________________________________

Tendrils of lightning lashed out from him in every direction as he rose up ten, twenty, fifty feet into the air. He screamed at the top of his lungs…

And slammed into the middle of the  _ dracaenae  _ army like a meteor.

A huge sword, white in its entirety, appeared in his hands. He swung it around as if it were weightless, wildly slashing at anything that beared the least resemblance to a snake. 

He started laughing...a loud, hysterical,  **maniacal** laughter that  _ really _ unnerved Joy.

_ Awesome.  _ She thought.  _ And terrifying. But also  _ **_completely_ ** _ awesome. I’ll make sure he remembers this by morning, definitely! If we make it, that is. _

The poor  _ dracaenae _ didn´t stand a chance. Every time one tried to hit Nico back, they were blasted by a current of superheated air, or swallowed by the ground, or simply fell down dead as every single  drop of water in their body was replaced by hydrochloric acid.

In barely more than a minute, everything walking on snake legs had been annihilated. Nico walked towards his Emotions, looking no worse for wear. 

As he drew closer, Disgust took a nice, long look at him. Yeah, he  _ seemed  _ fine, but he probably wasn’t. After all, he had just killed a whole bunch of snake people. Things like that...well, they probably weren’t very pleasant experiences, she thought. 

He had changed clothes, because why not? He was literally  _ inside _ his imagination. Anything was possible. Besides, he really didn’t want to go around saving the world in his pyjamas, did he? That’s what superheroes were for, and Nico  _ was _ no superhero. 

_ Nice new looks, Nico. _ Disgust thought.  _ Orange T-Shirt, dark blue waterproof jacket, beige trousers and trainers...yeah. Pretty nice. Still, I can do better. But... _

_ Glowing yellow eyes of doom.  _ She sighed.  _ You’ve still got a lot to learn, Nico. _

He had closed the distance between them, and now stood at Fear’s side. His eyes flickered off as he knelt beside him, but his smile remained.

-Are you fine?- He asked.

-Yeah...yeah.- Fear got up, coughing, as Nico pulled the shaft from his body. The gaping hole in his chest started closing on its own.

Nico looked up at the Hill of the Early Days. He could see the Hiroto behind it, a huge, and eerily desolated, pentagon-shaped starship.

He ran towards it.

* * *

 

**ANGER**

We had closed about half the distance to the Hiroto when Disgust stopped us.

“Shush, guys, look!”, she’d said, pointing at a small group of...I don’t know, actually. They were too far. I was about to tell Nico if he could make himself some binoculars or something, but he was already on it. Clever boy. 

“Told ‘ya, Fear” he said, handing him another pair of binoculars and using his own hands as a replacement for his. “It’s zombies.”

“Zombies?” Asked Sadness. I remembered she had been really scared of them six years ago, when Nico had played their videogame for the first time. Not that it mattered, anyway. We were gonna go through them whether she liked it or not. 

But then, just as we were about to start our attack, I had a  _ brilliant  _ idea. Best I’ve ever had, honestly. (And much better than anything that  _ nerve _ could have come up with, anyway).

“Hey, Nico…” I said. “Remember those old Daydream Discs?”

He smiled. “Of course”

“Remember that we had all those cool superpowers and…”

“Nah, let me guess,  _ you want them. _ It’s alright, Anger, you can have ‘em. Just give me a little time here”

The magic words.  _ Give me a little time here.  _ Greeeeeaaaat. With our luck, Nico, that translates directly into  _ ambush _ . 

Disgust rolled her eyes. She had probably noticed the same, too. I was about to comment it to her when Joy whispered: 

“So...guys...what do you think of this whole breach business? I myself hope it’s not too bad. At this speed, we’ll be back home in a jiffy, eh?”

-I think it’s bigger than you think, Joy. After all, it’s  _ all Nico has ever feared _ , right? And, you know...look at what they’ve done to this place. They’ve  _ destroyed it _ , Joy. There is almost nothing left, is there?-Sadness said.

I wish she hadn’t said that.  _ Everyone  _ wished she hadn’t said that. Because that’s when Joy, the leader of our group, the heart and glue of our little party, took a look around and saw. That Sadness was right, that Imagination Land, her favourite, and I mean  _ favourite  _ place both Inside and Outside, had been destroyed, and that all that was left was only a little token of Nico’s first attempt at writing. A ship. One little ship and six, perhaps seven, crew against an army of shadows and monsters.

If something had happened to her, Joy didn’t show. Both me and Sadness opened our mouths, but Nico interrupted us.

“Hey, guys, I’m done here. Please check that I’ve done everything right so we can move on.”

He turned back and said:

“And sorry if it explodes in your face.”

With that happy remark, I pointed my hand upward...and a jet of fire gushed out. 

“ _ Wow. _ ” I said. I always wanted pyrokinesis. I mean, when you can create fire at will but not control it, it has the potential to get annoying. Fast. Which is why pyrokinesis, the most useful superpower ever, was at the top of my wish list. 

_ Was.  _ Now fire annoyances and flaming newspapers are a thing of the past, forever. Good job, Nico. 

I looked around to see what the others had got.

Beside me, Sadness was playing with a gush of water, looking happier than she had done in ages. I dunno why. 

Disgust was happily shooting energy blasts into the sky, because why not? It’s not like those things actually do come down, do they?

Fear had gotten the lightning bolts, and Joy some kind of imagination-based superpower, which suits her just fine. After all, if  _ she _ imagines herself losing, then we must be in  _ big  _ trouble. Really big. As in, bad-guys-in-Headquarters big. Hopefully it won’t come to that.

“What if we split up?” I said. “After all, the Hiroto has only six levels, and with this powers I feel like I can handle everything those zomboids can throw at us. We’ll make much better time that way, and we still have to find Andrew.”

“Yeah, Anger, sure. But what if somebody gets into trouble?” We wouldn’t be able to…” Fear started, but was interrupted, yet again, by Nico.

“This bracelets detect when you’re in trouble and send you back to the beginning of the level, which you mark. Pressing this button on the side sends you back outside.”

“But what if…”

“Unremovable and unjammable as of now.” Nico muttered, as little bracelets appeared around our wrists, each with a little button on the side. Genius, that’s what I say. 

“And now.” He said. “We charge. Quick, make up a phrase to shout. On my mark in three...two...one…”

“CHARGE!”He yelled at the top of his lungs, running like a devil towards the small group of zombies, who turned around with a moan, surprised to see someone so suicidal.

Anyway, our quotes were quite interesting, so I guess I’ll write them down here, just in case.

Nico: “ **FOOOR NIIIICHOLAAASSS!!!! AND FOR ANDREWWWWW!!!!!!** ”

Sadness: “For...I didn’t have time to make a phrase. *sob*”

Fear: “ **FOOR** **_WAIT NICO WE DON’T HAVE A PLAN AND NONONONO AAAARRRRGGGHHHH WHY DO YOU MAKE ME DO THIS?!?!_ ** ”

Disgust muttered something under her breath. I didn’t hear. She might tell you later tough. If she does,  _ tell me _ , please. The intrigue is killing me.

Joy whooped. A lot. And I  _ mean  _ a lot. I think they heard her back at Headquarters or something.

Me, I just unleashed a dense stream of cursewords.

What? It’s perfectly acceptable to curse while charging. It’s not like  _ you _ wouldn’t do it, would you?

Anyway, the poor zombies didn’t stand a chance. They were five or six, after all, and we all had superpowers. The thing lasted like two seconds. A couple of lightning strikes here, a joy-grenade there, and some fire to wrap it all up…’t was easy.

With that menace out of the way, each of us got in a different lift (Yes, there were enough), while Nico gave his last set of instructions.

“One of us per level. Set the bracelets to return you to the elevator by simply thinking about it, wait for it to beep, and remember to push the button if you get into trouble. Anyway, people, grab a handgun from this weapons locker I just made here, and go kill some zombies! Happy hunting, and remember to look for Andrew!”

With that, I hit the floor 2 button on the elevator panels, grabbed my (red) gun, and got back in just as the doors were closing. Finally. Because it turns out, my little house of the dead, that you can’t just  _ scare _ Nico and us into submission without fighting us first.  _ Nooooooo,  _ and if you try to do that, and keep him awake for god-knows-many nights, then I’ll give you what you deserve. 

A bullet...to the  _ face. _

* * *

 

**DISGUST**

Zombies. 

It just  _ had  _ to be zombies. 

I shouldn’t complain tough, it makes sense. Nico was afraid of them once, and here they are, waiting to rip us all to pieces. 

Not like that will happen, of course. No one rips me to pieces when  _ I’m  _ on watch. 

...that didn’t make any sense.

Anyway,  _ dear reader _ (dun, dun, duuuuuunn), I shall continue with the story. 

When the lift stopped at the lowermost floor, the one with the main drive and all those engineery things I  _ really  _ should ask Andrew about someday, I heard a creak.

Mind you, I hear lots of creaks per day, but that one unnerved me the most, mainly because it had sounded so  _ old _ and  _ metallic _ . There was nothing aboard the Hiroto capable of producing a sound like that. 

Which meant metal. Which meant, that, if I remember right, and those zombies outside were really from the second  _ House of the Dead… _

- **_MGNEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!_ **

Yep, there he was. The little bat-faced imp with the helium addiction. 

- **I-’ve-already-taken-care-of-G. This-is-only-the beginning. You’re next. Get-him!**

_ Nooooooo,  _ I can’t believe it. It’s like a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to blast his face in. He flew away before I could do so, sadly, but it didn’t matter. He was on a script. That meant he  _ had _ to be back later, bringing in his infamous catchphrase and big suit of armour.

But right then I had slightly more urgent matters to deal with, like the trio of zombies that had just appeared out of nowhere to try bash my brains in.

They failed, of course. It was easy. I shot the first one with my (green) gun, in the head, because he is a videogame opponent, and fired twin blasts of energy at the two behind him. 

As I said, easy. They all went down like tissue paper. 

I proceeded down the hall, blasting anything that came in my way. It was all too easy.

_ Deceptively  _ so. Even the little leech things were easy. Something didn’t just  _ fit… _

I only noticed when I failed to take down a zombie and was forced to dodge instead. It wasn’t my fault. They had rushed in a group of  _ five _ . I killed the first four alright, but a fifth slipped through and tried a downward slash to my face. 

I dodged it, of course. I’m not James.

Sadly though, the zombie recovered, and tried to hit me again. He failed. I shot him in the face for good measure, and continued down the hallway, to the power core.

That was bad news tough. It meant that the zombies were not on rails. They could think and feel and set up ambushes. Bad.

The doors to it opened automatically. Good. At least that was still working.

I took a minute to look around.

_ Let’s see...white walls, definitely not smeared with blood except everywhere (GROSS), matter-antimatter power core in perfect state (for now), giant suit of armor… _

_ WAIT, WHAT? _

_ Giant suit of armor! That means... _ **_YEAH! BRING IN THAT INFAMOUS CATCHPHRASE, YA MORON!_ **

Judgment! The first boss in  _ The House Of The Dead 2 _ . Weak point: Helium-addicted imp. Difficulty: Low. Explodes upon defeat: False (aaaaawwwww)

**-Seems like my advice had no effect.**

_ Here it comes… _

_ - _ **Suffer, like G did?**

_ There! _

I started laughing. I couldn’t help it. The odd question mark, his voice, it was one of the funniest things I’ve heard in my life (And I live with Joy.)

I regained my composure enough to ad-lib a one-liner.

-Yes, imp. I might suffer. But don’t worry. You’ll suffer  _ a lot  _ more.

I charged, straight at the big suit of armor.

_ There’s actually even a  _ **_band_ ** _ called  _ _ Suffer Like G Did.  _ _ We don’t like them much, tough. Frankly, we haven’t even listened to them. Nico’s on a tight schedule, Outside. _

**DISGUST**

Turns out, imps are hard to hit. Even if you have good reflexes and a handgun, Zeal is  _ very  _ hard to hit.

I didn’t manage it. Not even once.

- **Go, Kuarl!**

The big suit started advancing towards me, raising that oversized axe of his. And in the tiny microsecond I had before he swung, I formed a plan. Something I had seen in a movie, years before.

I  _ know _ . TV land has different rules. But screw that, my plan was good, and stupid and un-James-y enough to work.

I lunged to the side, and the axe missed me by a mile. Judgment flickered a bit, but that didn’t seem to stop him. Zeal went back to flying circles while I ran towards Kuarl.

I started climbing his suit. Turns out, armor joints make for some  _ great  _ footholds when climbing, especially when the target is still.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I didn’t just energy-blast Kuarl into oblivion. The reason is physics. My energy blasts give  _ a lot  _ of heat to whatever they touch (But not the atmosphere! Nico was careful.) Of course, that makes them good against organics, but giant suits of armor are another story. Metal is  _ really good  _ at conducting heat.

- **Go...Kuarl?**

Great, he found out. I climbed inside Kuarl, taking advantage of his helmetless form. Once inside, I tried to find something useful, maybe a gigantic OFF switch, but no luck. I heard the flutter of wings above me and looked up

Zeal had tried to follow me in, but his wings wouldn’t fit. He had to settle with snapping at me with his low-resolution mouth while I slid down one of Kuarls’s legs.

- **Go, Kuarl!**

Just as planned. I crouched as low as I could manage, bracing for impact…

**CRUNCH**

I looked up. Above me, I could see the glint of a gigantic axe. 

My plan had worked. Kuarl had impaled himself in hopes of getting to me. Now it was Zeal’s turn.

I thrust out my hand and fired an energy blast at the knee’s joint. It exploded outwards, letting me jump out onto the cold, metal floor.

_ Now, where is that helium-addicted imp...there! _

He flew directly at my face, doing that high-pitched giggle he had become famous for. I barely managed to stop his head from biting my nose off, but I held him in place. His legs kicked and tore at my dress, but I didn’t care. (Weird...I normally  _ do  _ care) I had to finish him off.

I placed my hand on his face, letting his arm free to slash at me. It hurt, but not much, and I didn’t even flinch. 

I fired an energy blast at his face.

It was  _ gross.  _ There were bits of zombie everywhere, even on (le gasp) my dress. Inconceivable. I promised myself that, when all of this was over, I’d take a shower.

A good, long,  _ relaxing _ shower. To clean the nasty bits off and calm down. Yeah.

That thought kept me going as I backtracked to the elevator and headed for the bridge.

* * *

 

**ANGER**

Zombies.

I  _ hate  _ zombies!

And I  _ mean  _ it, dammit! Those are horrible evil things that should never exist. 

How could  _ anyone  _ even  _ think  _ of showing a game like that to seven-year olds is completely preposterous.

But oh, well. At least charring their eyes out was fun. I remember that one just turned around and bumped into a wall, repeatedly.  _ So  _ fun. I’ll ask Andrew for the tapes later, if we make it out of this one.

The crew deck was a mess. Most of the doors were busted open, and you do  _ not  _ want to know what was inside of them. I’ll just say that Disgust would have puked her tongue out. 

I was just making my way through another group-you know, your standard group of mallet-hurling zombies, when one managed to outflank me. The  _ disadvantages  _ of having almost zero peripheral vision. Whoever thought I should be shaped like a brick deserves a good facepunch.

Just as I was about to dodge it’s imminent blow, I heard gunfire to the right, from inside one of the crew quarters. Revolver, by the sound of it. 

The zombie stumbled backwards and fell, three bullets embedded in its head. I  _ think  _ one got it in the eye. Of course, that didn’t matter. 

The shooter emerged from the darkness of the dorm into the main hallway. He wore a brown long coat, fedora, cargo pants, combat boots...I  _ knew _ who he was from the beginning tough. The moustache kinda told me.

_ Nope, not Hitler. Also not Chaplin, either. Poor sod’s moustache style was ruined FOREVER. _

He sighed, crossing his arms.

-First the zombies, then the snakes, then a fire-spewing Emotion. Seems legit.

He un-crossed his arms and lowered his fedora.

-Philippe Tupan, re _ por _ ting for  _ du _ ty.

Of course it was him. Nico’s first original non-oneshot character. Detective Philippe Tupan.  A bit weird, but still good enough to be in several short stories. Funny guy, although a bit harsh. I’d seen him a couple of times, but I never spoke to him. Go figure.

-Well,  _ look.  _ How did you  _ make  _ it?- I asked. I wanted to know. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who made it. Maybe there was a whole platoon round the corner, and a Tiger Tank or two…

The sound of gunfire snapped me back to reality.

- _ Who? What? Where?-  _ I demanded. I turned around, hands on fire, ready to melt some faces…

But there was no one there…

\- I  _ said.-  _ He commented- That I hid in a closet. Are you happy now?-

Of course. I had slipped off daydreaming. Grrr.

\- As happy as I can be here and now. Care to take point?

He sighed.

\- Taking point.

We moved down the hallway, slowly, checking any other rooms for survivors. Sadly, we found none. Just lots of blood, guts, and [ **REDACTED BY THE AUTHOR:** **_NOPE_ ** **_._ ** ]

Ah, The Author. I like that guy. Spoiler alert, he-

**_ANGER!_ **

He is-

**_That’s it, I’m cutting off your chapter._ **

But-

**_NO SPOILERS! FOR THE TWENTIETH TIME, I-_ **

You can’t do this! I’m Anger!

**_And I am The Author! With CAPITAL LETTERS!_ **

Oh,  _ really,  _ **_Mister-_ **

**_ENOUGH!_ **

_ Enough?!  _ **_Enough?!?? Do you know who you’re messing with, Author?_ ** **_DO YOU KNOW? I AM ANGER! AND I HAVE THE FIRE!_ **

**_I SAID STOP! ENOUGH! BASTA! ANGER, YOU ASKED FOR IT!_ **

* **Explosions***

***Destruction***

***Various special effe-**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stil have to wrap this up. Don't worry, you'll get your Sadness vs. Magician. Just hold on.


	4. Tales Of A Reset Mind- Part Nine- Part Two

**NICO**

I woke up alone. The last thing I could remember was that hit in the head, and that  then everything had gone black.

I got up from the floor. My brain felt as if it were going to melt from the effort, but I managed.

Just to made sure, I looked around me. (After all, I might have still been inside the Subconscious) Wherever I was, it had plain white walls, absolutely zero windows and…

_ That wasn’t a plain wall. _

To begin with, a crayon drawing of one of the memory shelves in Headquarters. And standing beside it…

-Joy?

- _ No. _ \- A voice answered. It was cold and shrill, and it sounded a little bit...familiar.

- _ Mania. _

_ Theme:  _ [ **_Psycho_ ** ](https://youtu.be/UqLRqzTp6Rk) _ , by Muse. _

_ ___________________________________________ _

Well, shit.

Out of all the things I’ve ever feared,  _ of course _ it had to be Mania.

-Mania?- I said. Better to keep her talking while I figured out a way to escape. 

-Yes... _ Mania _ . -She replied. 

There,  _ just right there _ ,  _ that _ was a slightly weaker spot in the walls…

-Nope. Don’t remember you. Sorry...and goodbye!

I thrust out my hand (left one, in case you’re wondering) and fired a lightning bolt at the wall.

**_BLAM._ **

I expected the walls to crumble, letting me walk away, perhaps find my Emotions on the other side…

So,  _ of course _ , they didn’t. Instead, the lightning bolt ricocheted off, and started bouncing all over the room.

Now, that was a small place. It’s not a surprise that my own lightning bolt got me in the back. I fell face first onto the clean, white floor, desperately trying (and failing) to get back up.

-Trying to escape? You can’t escape from your future,  _ Nico. _ You can not escape from  _ us _ .

My future? I was confused. Yes, Mania and I  _ had _ tangled before, but that had been almost a year ago.

-Wanna meet the others? Oh, yeah, you can’t reply because you’ve gone ahead and electrocuted yourself. -She gave a small chuckle much reminiscent of Joy’s. -Well, I guess that then…

-Hatred here.

-Panic.

-Rage.

What, now? First Mania and now these...just my luck. Again.

-Don’t you want to know how you got here? Because you  _ know _ what this is, don’t you?-Mania said. Dammit, I could almost  _ feel _ her grin at those words.

I was, finally, able to control my own body again. I got up from the floor as Hatred chuckled.

-Back, honey? I’d have done it in half the time. Anyway, Mania, he’s all yours now.

-All...ACK!

Pain, unimaginable pain, seized my forehead. I clutched it in agony, bracing against a wall for support as I tried to understand what the hell was going on.

The pain stopped. I stood there, all muscles tensed, not daring to let go of the wall in case I fell down and couldn’t get back up.

-Liked it? Don’t worry, there will be more coming your way,  _ Nico _ .  _ Much _ more. It is the punishment you deserve, my little  _ murderer _ . -Mania said, laughing.

Murderer? I had no idea of what she was saying. I was pretty sure I’d never killed anyone so far.

Then I realised... _ I had. _

To my mind came the two hundred  _ dracaenae _ , the lady I’d shot, even that stupid giant spider.

I slumped to the floor, tears filling my eyes. I really  _ was  _ a murderer. Just like the bad guys. Worse, I had even  _ had fun. _

-You see? We are not too different,  _ Nico. _ -Panic said.

-Don’t go soft on him, Panic. He’s  _ mine _ . -Mania replied, cutting him short. 

Something lifted me from the floor. I don’t know what it was, and I think it doesn’t matter.

-Don’t worry,  _ Nico. _ After all, you are just going to, what’s the saying,  _ roll  _ with this, aren’t you? Here, let me help out a bit.

Something yanked my head down. It hurt, but not too much. 

That’s when the spinning started. 

I couldn’t see anything. Trying to focus on something hurt my eyes. I tried closing them, but had no luck. The entire world was spinning around me, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. My head hurt. I wanted to get out of there, but I couldn’t. I tried speaking...

Next thing I knew, my arm was broken and I had just slammed into a wall. 

Then my head started hurting again, and I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I started screaming as I flopped around aimlessly, trying to think of something,  _ anything _ else that wasn’t my pain. 

Desperate, I tried to wake up. Heck, even some time without the Emotions was worth getting away from that place. So I closed my eyes and focused, just like Andrew had taught me almost a year ago…

**_-NO._ **

SchistschistschischistschistschistschistSCHIST! What the hell had that been? It hadn’t been Mania’s voice, or any of the bad guys’ voices. As I tried to pull myself upright, I realised…

_ It was MY voice.  _

But that couldn’t be! As Mania slammed me into a wall again (How did she even  _ do _ that?), I tried to ignore the pain, but it was fruitless. It just kept on coming, like a waterfall you  _ just can’t stop. _

I was so afraid. Was I ever gonna leave that place? Would I ever wake up? See the others again?

The others...as I coughed blood into the floor I realised how much I missed them. How much I missed the little voices inside my head after only a few  _ minutes _ of being without them. 

It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair. And still, a part of me felt like I deserved it. For being a murderer. For letting the voices drive me crazy. For…

Enough. No more thinking. I wondered, half-conscious, whether they had bodies. As in literal, physical bodies that could appear in front of me and hurt me.

I was about to black out. I knew that. I was  _ fine _ with that. 

What I wasn’t fine with, however, was with the four beings that had appeared in front of me, and with the fact that they were  _ closing in... _

I tried, desperately, to find  _ something _ to anchor me to reality as the world swirled around me, threatening to crush me between the walls any minute.

_ Joy…  _ I thought.

_ What? _

[DATA EXPUNGED]

Theme:Psycho, by Muse, and Mania is singing it..

-S Cr E a M!  I Like itwhen you scream!.

Did you like it? I´ve got more.

Oh, yes, you WILL kill her. With your hands.

You will never leave us, Nic _ T _ o. You can not escape from the psych ward. Never

Are you seriously trying?

Now do exactly as I tell you...if you dare. 

**Narration...impossible to xontinue.  Memories too big. Mania...ohnoitsherrunrunrunrunrunasdghthcjy**

**Of course you didn't stubborn nuthead.**

I just got rid of an unwanted pest who didn´t even like herself.

And I can and I will use that knowledge...on You.  And your frgfhhcfiends, and everybody you hold dear. Because I am Mania, and  **_I_ ** am your goddess.

Dgu, zrttz,  _ kkrttttzzzzzzzzzzzzz _

Narration process terminated.

* * *

**JOY**

When Nico managed to contact me by thought, I froze.

Which was probably a bad thing, since, you know, this freaking giant robot thing was trying to crush my skull. 

I barely managed to roll aside as its arms sank into the ground, just where I’d been a second before.

_ What, Nico?  _ I replied.

_ Joy… _

This time he sounded...closer, I guess. Just to check, I walked a little bit more in that direction. I was right, it  _ was _ getting louder,  if only slightly so.

_ Nico?  _ I thought.

_ J-Joy...Help… _

I’ll admit it, that scared me. He sounded like...I dunno. His voice was so shaky and weak, he might have been dying. That or he was in  _ severe _ pain.

_ How are you? _ I thought, shooting my handguns at the now-standing robot’s eye. I probably shouldn’t have done that, seeing as I’d probably have to run away any second, but oh well. Sometimes a girl just wants to shoot stuff.

_ I...I…  _ He replied. He most definitely  _ did not _ sound alright.

That’s when the screaming started.

I don’t know what happened inside me. I guess perhaps a fit of protective rage? Desperation? I don’t know. Case any, I ran in the direction of Nico’s voice, anger growing on me as I shot anything that moved and a few things that  _ didn’t  _ move. (Freaky stone statues, anyone?)

I guess I’d never been as pissed off in my entire life as I was then, but something, no, wait,  _ someone _ was making my boy scream. And I wasn’t just going to sit by and let it happen.

As I reached a clearing in the jungle that was the Subconscious, the Voice spoke to me again.

_ You won’t make it, J- _

- _ YOU AREN’T GOING TO STOP ME!- _ I yelled. See, that’s what I meant by  _ angry.  _ Completely unstoppable rage. Slightly unethical, but oh well. It was the Subconscious after all.

_ -But- _

- _ NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME!  _

One Dementor and six stupid zombies later (which is to say, half an hour) , I reached a small, concrete cubicle. Or at last it  _ looked _ like concrete. I don’t know, honestly.

I used my powers to create a giant pickaxe, which I hurled at the cube’s top. It burst open almost immediately, spraying everything behind it with debris and revealing a clean white wall.

I climbed atop the wreckage, anger giving in to desperation. What if he was dead, or this was all a trap, or he’d woken up? I shook my head as I reached the top, because there he was. In the troubled fetal position and caked with dust, but he was there and that’s what mattered.

-Nico!- I yelled as I climbed down beside him. -C’mon, I’ll get you out of here.

-Joy.. -He said. His eyes were unfocused, like he was trying to see something a thousand miles away.

-Stay with me, Nico. Now get up, shall you?

-Get...get out of here, Joy.

What? 

-GET OUT!

I raised my arms. 

-Alright, alright, I will.- 

That’s when I noticed it. My hand, it was...it was  _ orange _ . My hands aren’t supposed to be orange. As I watched, the... _ thing _ started climbing up my arm, much like a freaking tumor.

-But...what?

Unfortunately, he noticed it too.

- **_GET OUT OF HERE, JOY!_ ** \- He raised his hand towards me, and I realised too late what he was going to do…

Lightning blasted my side, and I flew out of the room, hitting my head on a tree outside.

I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t think. As the world swirled around me, I tried to hold on to reality again. I remembered the Reset, so long ago, the Console upgrade, Nico’s first visit…

_ Nico’s first visit. _

There was something odd with that moment, something  _ important _ …

The dream. That was it! That...evil me, or whatever it had been. She was orange, remember? And most certainly a total maniac. But still orange.

_ -Ha. Maniac. Mania. I see what you did there, Joy. _

I stood up, barely, as Nico climbed out of the remains. God, he looked so  _ awful. _ His mouth was bleeding, his clothes were torn and...had his head  _ swelled?  _ What on earth had happened there? I asked him, but he only said we had to get out of there, that we had already done enough and that he was much too scared to go on, but he was thinking more than speaking.  _ Something  _ had happened to him in there. His blinks were longer, his hands were trembling.

However he was, he was  _ not  _ alright.

-Where are the others?-He asked. 

-At the gate, Nico, that’s where they...crap.

Again, the Subconscious forces had gathered ahead of us, a small army of... _ things _ ready to turn us all into dinner. (Or perhaps something else, I really  _ don’t know) _

I raised my pistols.

-Not going down without a fight.- I told Nico, who only gave a half grin and said “Me neither”. 

Together, we charged.

**JOY**

Mind you, it was all going  _ rather well _ , or at least it was until Nico got stabbed.

He had dashed ahead of me, wreathed in lightning and screaming his head off. I had barely reached their front lines when two... _ things _ swooped down from the sky and tried to scoop me up. I shot their heads off and made myself a sword for close-range fighting. (Aren’t imagination-based powers  _ awesome? _ ) 

Then I saw Nico, and my heart plummeted. There was a hole, a  _ huge  _ hole in the left side of his stomach, and there was so much blood…

His face grew red, the air around him hotter. The ground itself seemed to hum as he cried, so loud that even the creatures stopped moving. His face was trembling, his eyes were bloodshot. I knew, just by looking at him, that that had been it. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had reached his terror limit.

\-  **_ENOUGH!_ ** **_I SAY_ ** **_ENOUGH_ ** **_IS_ ** **_ENOUGH_ ** **_!_ ** **_I_ ** **_AM THE HOST, OWNER, AND_ ** **_LORD_ ** **_OF THIS MIND WORLD! MY NAME, IS_ ** **_NICHOLAS!_ ** **_AND I! AM! YOUR_ ** **_GOD!_ **

He slashed in the air with his hand...and all the creatures disappeared.

* * *

 

**JOY.**

_ Theme:  _ [ **_Back To The Earth_ ** ](https://youtu.be/brldtxn1j58) _ , by Starset. _

- **_NO!-_ ** I shouted. -Come on, Nico, get back up!

But it was no good. He still lied, half conscious, against a tree, yes, but there was a lot of blood. Too much of it, actually. And as I watched, so powerful but powerless to do anything, more gushed out.

He was  _ dying _ , and there wasn’t a single thing any of us could do about it.

-Joy…- He started, but I interrupted.

-No last words, Nico. You’ll make it out of this one alive, I promise. You just have to...hold on.

He rolled his eyes.

-You know perfectly well that this is a dream to me, and that after I die here I will wake up outside, unharmed and ready for yet another boring school day. What I don’t get is why this has to  _ hurt _ so much.-His voice had changed by the end, from a sarcastic whisper to the crackly tone he used when he was angry.

Of course, he didn’t know...but I asked him anyway, just to be sure.

-Nico...did you ever give  _ On Lucid Dreaming  _ a close look? A really,  _ really _ close look? Do you remember what happens...in cases like this?

\- “[DATA EXPUNGED]”, Joy. 

In fact, no it  _ wasn’t.  _ The data there was just...hidden. Not expunged. I had seen it, firsthand.

And hadn’t liked it  _ one bit _ .

-See you out there, Joy. Make your way back up there, alright? Goodbye. Th...thank you for the rescue.-He closed his eyes and exhaled.

- **_No!_ ** Nico, come on! Don’t...don’t die on me. -I started crying, and for good reason.-Please, Nico, whatever you are going to do,  _ please, please please don’t die on me!-  _ I rested my head on his shoulder, feeling how it wasn’t moving, how any second now he…

- **HWAAA!!!!!!**

I screamed and fell backwards, almost bonking my head on a tree. In front of me, Nico was laughing, or at least trying to do so while not choking on his own blood.

-That wasn’t funny- I said, punching him in the arm.-That was definitely not funny.

He smiled, but his breath was quickening. Any second now, he’d be gone.

But at least he would do so with a smile on his face.

And then, from behind a tree, came a voice. A cold, shrill, high-pitched voice that actually sounded a bit like...mine?

- _ Oh, look, he’s smiling now. How romantic, Joy. You two, here, in what was supposed to be a dramatic death scene. Pity. I would like it a bit more...like  _ **_this_ ** _. _

She (It had definitely been a she) suddenly,  _ out of the complete blue _ , appeared in front of Nico, and, in one swift move, struck her fist right through Nico’s wound.

His eyes widened, and he fell sideways. Even from here, I could feel his pulse lessening as the life drained out of him.

It was too late now.  _ This  _ time, he  _ was  _ going to die. In front of me. Because I hadn’t been able to protect him.

It really  _ was  _ sad.

-Nico…-I purred, sitting down beside him. -Think of...think of something you like. Something you really, really like. Focus on it, Nico.-Sheesh, I don’t know if he was actually  _ listening _ , but it was worth a shot.- Focus... andpleasepleasepleasedon’t die on me!

-J-Joy...can you...stay with me? Until I...I’m gone? Because this is all starting to -cough- feel... _ way _ ...too real...

I was about to break down myself, about to lie down on the floor and scream until it was all over, when a familiar voice sounded behind me.

-Oh, he’s not going to die on you, Joy. In fact, I don’t think that he’s gonna die at all. Or have you  _ forgotten - _ Fear said _ ,  _ he and the others coming up behind me.- That I  _ never _ leave home without a  _ chill pill? _

[ _ SCP-500 _ ](http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-500) _ by  _ ****

* * *

**FEAR**

Sure, Nico was dying, we were in the Subconscious, and there had been a Mind World-Scale crisis, but that didn’t stop me from thinking clearly.

In fact, er,  _ very _ deep down, I was actually enjoying it. Yes, I know, monsters and spiders and Evil Emotions and all the lot, but there was a part of me that was still having fun.  _ Loads _ of fun.

I will never forget the look on Joy’s face when I gave her the pill, nor her hurry when she force-fed it to Nico. As soon as he swallowed it, the wound closed. Colour returned to his face. His limbs, lying motionless in a crumpled heap merely seconds before, were now at full extension as he stood up.

He looked at his stomach, most probably wondering how could it still be there after all that had happened.

-Thank you, Fear...thank you- He said, crushing me in a hug. I would have said something about him applying too much pressure to my internal organs, before remembering I don’t actually  _ have _ any. Lucky boy.

-Don’t be, Nico. It was just what needed to happen. You are fine now.

-Which brings me to the question of how did you notice. And where have you been hiding that thing. -Joy asked.

-We heard it- Disgust answered.-You  _ really _ think all the screaming would go unnoticed, especially  _ here _ where it’s oh-so-very-quiet? Fat chance, Joy.

Nico blushed.

-Don’t tell me you heard the line.

-Nice one, by the way.

-Anyway, how’d it go?

-Pretty well in fact. We cleared everything but this big guy here.- She pointed downwards- And also…

- _ Me. _

_ Theme:  _ [ **_We Can Still Stop Her_ ** ](https://youtu.be/ryGUO8Qcjts) **_,_ ** _ by Michael Giaccino. _

Schiiiiiiiisssssstttttttttt. Of course, it had to be…

- _ Mania. _

-YOU!- Nico yelled. 

She came out from behind a tree (How did she  _ get _ there without me noticing? Freaky.) and started talking, with that evil high-pitched voice of hers.

Oh my-I haven’t described her. See, she was as tall as Joy (Which is to say, two metres something) and pretty similar looking, if not for the fact that she was, well, orange. She also wore Joy’s dress, albeit shorter, and some trainers- those were Nico’s, stolen long ago.

All that combined with a creepy look and a wicked smile, and you see why Nico would be afraid.

-Too laaate guuys! Your  _ pointless sentimental blabbering _ has bought us enough time to get to the Train of Thought. You are  _ so  _ screwed now. See you later... _ people! _

For some reason, we all decided to hurl something large at her. 

What’s worse is that she managed to  _ dodge _ it- somehow an energy blast, a column of fire, a hailstorm of daggers, a water jet, and two 20000 V lightning bolts (™) hadn’t even  _ hit  _ her. 

Then she was gone, a streak of light rushing in the direction of the gates.

-My, my...she’s quick.-Anger said, surprised that he actually  _ hadn’t  _ hit something for once. 

But that’s what is in it for you, Anger. See, after all lightning is a glorified version of fire. So I win. 

-...so that’s her- Disgust said, her hand still shaking from firing the energy blast.

-Definitely her.- Sadness said, too.

-Yes, yes...but you heard her, guys. -I told the others, raising my voice a bit. -We have to get to that train  _ now _ . And I  _ mean _ now. Else...

Nico broke into a run. 

-Sigh...he just did it again, didn’t he?- Disgust said, and followed suit.

Seconds later, we were all running, working our legs as fast as we could in hope to reach the Train of Thought in time.

But we didn’t  _ have _ time. As I blasted a tree out of the way, I wondered  _ why _ had the bad guys taken the Train and not something faster. Like the  _ Nagato  _ parked just outside. Or, you know,  _ the Recall Tubes. _

We ran for a mile or so before reaching the gates. Joy (Who had out-sprinted everyone else) broke them with a battering ram, and we stepped outside...only to find a huge pile of rocks where our  _ Nagato  _ was supposed to be.

-Daaaaammmiiit.- I said.- Nico, can you move them out?

-No time, Fear. Run!

- _ We are ALREADY RUNNING!-  _ Disgust snapped.

- _ THEN RUN FASTER! _

We climbed the stairs at top speed, almost tripping on some particularly tricky steps (Anger fell on his face. Twice, actually. Or no, wait, three times)

And then we finally,  _ finally _ reached the top, where Andrew was waiting for us, probably wondering why the hell had we taken that long.

- _ DID YOU SEE THEM RUNNING?!- _ Nico yelled in his face as he shook him, as if trying to shake the memories off of him for him to see. -No, wait, your right hand is shaking. You  _ did _ see them. Now, where did they… Alright. Thinking time.

He pressed his hands to his temples and knitted his eyebrow, like he did when it was time to think, and think hard.

-Okay, Nico, think. THIIIIIIIIIINK.- He chuckled- So, Mania wants to get to HQ, but can’t do so if we take out the Train  _ or _ incapacitate her before it arrives. Now, the thing is stopped, but the manual controls still work, and she probably knows how to use them, or she wouldn’t be taking it, at one of the two nearby stations, Imagination Land or Dream Productions. Both are too far away for us to reach now, but I could  _ possibly _ divert it here-NO, the Train doesn’t work that way. Then, perhaps there is another way, but we don’t have the time. However, both stations lead to the same place, Headquarters. The tracks always appear at the same point, tough, and their ETA is...screw that. Joy, can you make us something that flies?

-Sure, but not for long. The bigger it is the harder it gets to keep it up. 

-Doesn’t matter, can you make it fast?

-Very.

-Do it.

A few seconds later, a platform shimmered into existence right in front of us, but it looked weak. We wouldn’t have much time. Of course, that didn’t matter if it was fast. 

-Everyone up, now! -Disgust commanded, and we followed suit. 

-No, not you, Andrew. -Nico stopped him midway as he tried to hop on- I need you to go to Imagination Land, grab a  _ Lanzarrayos,  _ and _ shoot the Train _ when the signal goes off. Can you do that?

Andrew nodded.

-Fine. Hit it, Joy.

**CLICK**

**CLICK**

**CLICK**

**FWOOSH.**

Now, I expected it to be fast. But not  _ that _ fast.

\-  **_OH MY - YOU GODDAMN MOTHERF[EXPLETIVES REDACTED BY THE AUTHOR: NEW NUMERIC RECORD ACHIEVED. OBSERVATIONS: SUBJECT WAS TRAVELLING AT 0.5 c AND FLAILING POINTLESSLY]_ **

That basically explains it. 

By the way, I didn’t like it much. I guess I’d have given the experience...half a star. Or worse. I don’t know how Yelp works.

Case any, when I opened my eyes we were standing on a ridge, and there was a tunnel below us.

A tunnel that was getting louder...and louder.

-That’s them. That’s them!-I said. To be honest, I was pretty anxious about the whole fighting-for-your-life thing. I just wanted it done with as soon as possible so that I could rest, lie down and take a break from all the guns and planes and bombs and whatnot. It gets tiring after a while, especially when the casualties start.

-Guys, it’s coming! -Joy warned us. -Nico, can you separate the forward module?

Now, let me explain some things about Nico’s Train of Thought.

  * First, it’s not actually a train. (Yeah, I got my mind blown too) It’s a monorail, heavily inspired by the only one Nico has ever ridden Outside.
  * Second, the wagons (or “modules”) can be separated from each other, as long as they still remain on the tracks. The modules can not leave the tracks by themselves, but something like a _Lanzarrayos_ could probably push them off (And also, you know, destroy them. The Train just can’t take firepower of _that_ magnitude)
  * And third, the forward module has all the controls and stuff needed for the train to run, and before you ask, no, it doesn’t have a huge selfdestruct button. Yet.



-There it is. JUMP! -Anger said as he proceeded to do do himself.

Without looking downwards, and ignoring the fact that I was going to be fighting for my life in just a few seconds, I jumped.

* * *

 

**DISGUST**

We meet again, Dear Reader. For the  _ last _ time!

Okay, okay, I’ll give up the cliché supervillain talk now. Most likely because we  _ weren’t  _ facing cliché supervillains and only cliché supervillains deserve their phrases used against them.

Anyway, I think the others here have given you a fairly good idea of what we were facing-we had all met them at some point, be it one or many- but I will tell you again, just in case you missed it.

Evil Emotions. 

We were facing Evil Emotions.

Mind you, I have prepared for a scenario like this for a long, long time-but I had never expected having to face an evil copy of myself. That had been unexpected.

I had seen her only for a split second while we were running for Nico, but I will never be able to forget her face. Her dark green, green-eyed,  _ irisless  _ face. It was the stuff of nightmares, trust me.

But still, I wasn’t sure about one thing.

If there were evil clones for all of us, why wasn’t there one for Sadness?

But that would have to wait. Right then we had more pressing matters to attend to. As we landed on the roof of the “Train” of Thought (Nico with some help from Joy), I heard a sound below us.

Running.

The bad guys were running for the forward module too, it seemed. I followed suit. With luck, the others would catch up with what I was doing and run, too.

And so they did. 

A minute in, the forward module started to separate, just like we’d planned. We reached the end and jumped, one after the other.

Risky? Yeah. Stupid? That too. Necessary?

Without a sliver of a doubt. After all, this was  _ Mania _ we were dealing with here. She was  _ vicious _ , and  _ ruthless _ , and certainly,  _ certainly, _ wouldn’t stop until Nico was dead.

For some reason.

Anyway, we landed mostly okay, if only a little piled up. Nico got up, quickly, and turned backwards, facing away from the quickly-approaching Headquarters.

He didn’t know it, but with that action he was doomed. He spotted Mania and her group a couple of modules away, running towards us...and then the rain started.

It wasn’t normal rain tough. No, it was a full-out thunderstorm. In those relatively few seconds, while we were all too busy trying to extricate ourselves (I was first), I heard, at least, two or three lightning strikes somewhere behind us.

Sigh. What’s  _ it _ with Nico and his obsession with lightning? 

A few seconds later, of course, I felt like I was never going to find out.

Why? Because Mania  _ jumped _ , that’s why. 

It happened in slow motion to me. First, Mania flying, sailing through the air majestically (Hey, credit where it’s due). Then, a lightning strike a bunch of metres to the left. And then Nico, with his arm raised, shooting lightning at her.

But the lightning didn’t hit anything…

And then Mania, grinning more than she had ever had before, grabbed Nico’s arm and they both fell.

Downwards, towards the Memory Dump.

* * *

 

**DISGUST**

He he heee, I did it on purpose. Told the author to do a chapter break, comes off as more dramatic that way.

I was shocked. Why, we were  _ all  _ shocked. Nico had just fallen into the Memory Dump and probably had only seconds left to live before he went splat. Now, I don’t know what happens if he dies in here, but it can’t be good, or Joy wouldn’t have been at breaking point when we found her with Nico.

-He...he just…

-Yeah, Sadness-I said- Nico just fell down. Don’t worry tough, I’m pretty sure that he’ll find a way to macgyver himself out of there. You’ve seen him. He does stuff like that, sometimes.

The others didn’t say anything. Probably they were running simulations and calculations inside their heads on how Nico could manage to survive the fall, most probably by using Mania to soften the impact.

Still, there was the question of fighting her later...

But still, we were safe, right? Any second now Andrew would destroy the rest of the Train, taking out the rest of the Evil Emotions. Then we would enter Headquarters, where Nico would be waiting, probably with a sarcastic remark about him once falling  _ twice _ that height and surviving, and we’d congratulate each other, tell anecdotes, etcetera. No biggie.

But then…

- **_SEPARATION DETECTED-_ ** The Train’s AI (Yes, it has an AI) said over the loudspeakers.

- **_REASSEMBLING._ **

Sigh...and I had just thought we were safe. Murphy strikes again, I guess.

We’d have to fight for our lives to get out of there. Again. 

But at least this time, we would be together. No matter what happened (And really, the odds  _ were _ in our favour), we’d all face it together. How it  _ should  _ be. 

As the three remaining Evil Emotions drew near, I...well, it’s kind of embarrassing. Something Nico did by accident, once. The idea stuck with me and, well…

_ I took command _ .

Any other day, I’d let Joy do the leading. She  _ was _ the Lead Emotion, after all. But not today. She was probably still stunned from seeing Nico fall, and probably shell-shocked after so much combat. Heck, perhaps  _ all  _ of them were. 

But I’m special that way. I can, if it’s necessary, temporarily forget about certain events and let the shock hit me later. Don’t ask me how I got that ability. In fact, I’m pretty sure Nico snuck it in during some Imagination Land visit. I’ll ask him later.

Anyway, back to the story. 

As I said, the bad guys were getting near, ten compartments away at most, at half a module per second...twenty seconds until we were at arm’s reach of each other. We  _ could _ try to blast them from here, but what if that superdodging wasn’t exclusive to Mania? Also, any shots that missed and flew outside the Train might get mistaken for “The Signal”, and Andrew would blast us all to smithereens.

But I had a plan.

-Operation Vapor Grenade!- I yelled, even though the others didn’t know what the hell that meant. Still, it only took one second for them to figure it out. 

First, Sadness created a huge lump of water above Anger’s head, which he turned to vapor, which Joy encased in a grenade-like thingy she threw at the floor in front of the Evil Emotions.

Then Fear blasted it with lightning. 

And the entire compartment filled with superheated water vapor. 

From the inside, I heard coughing. Good. Also, a couple of very rude words I’m not going to reproduce. Also good.

Of course, my plan would have been a lot more effective if more than a third of the bad guys  _ actually had _ eyes we could have disabled that way. Now that they were close, I could see that the Anti-Anger was blind, and that the Anti-Fear didn’t actually have eyes. Gross.

Sigh...I guess it was the more direct approach, then.

_ Theme:  _ [ **Halo** ](https://youtu.be/7Qw4IpcIMqw) ,  _ by Starset. I’d literally tune the whole part to their  _ **_Transmissions_ ** _ if I could, but The Author says no. _

Alright then, I could see them running towards us, five seconds away. Had I been alone, I would have ran, too, but I  _ wasn’t _ alone. 

And that’s what mattered. Like Nico, I was almost addicted to doing stuff myself, because it actually  _ worked _ that way. But this time, I had to take a step back, remember that I was not alone, and let others do the job, too. After all, the whole  _ world  _ was at risk. They were going to give this one fight everything they had and perhaps even more. If it wasn’t for themselves, it’d be for Nico. Because if we couldn’t save him…

We’d  _ avenge _ him.

I was relieved with the others’ presence at my side. What we were doing here was  _ serious _ . It wasn’t shooting zombies in the face while muttering sarcastic remarks anymore. Right now, we were going against  _ people _ .

And then Rage (I’d given him that name) slammed into Sadness, and all hell broke loose.

* * *

 

**DISGUST**

I fired a big blast towards him, knocking him off his feet and into a wall. Behind me, Joy and Fear were tackling “Panic”, and Sadness had joined Anger in his fight against Rage.

That left me, and Hatred. Fine. 

I pointed at her, my face glowing with...well...hatred. She had probably come up with this plan, probably costing Nico his life. And I was  _ not _ going to let her get away with  _ that _ . No one would.

-You. Me. To the _finish_.

I charged at her, screaming my head off.

Man, she was  _ quick _ . As soon as I charged her, she had moved away, ready to grab me by my dress collar and throw me out. What  _ I’d  _ do. Taking her had possibly been the worst choice, seeing as both of us had similar fight styles. 

Of course, that meant I had to do something  _ weird _ if I wanted to win. Or at least weird  _ to me _ . As I punched her in the face and Anger did the same with Rage, I realised…

I always did everything alone. And so did Hatred. If I could drag someone else into the fight, perhaps I’d stand a larger chance.

So I asked for help. 

-Hey, Joy! Mind a little help over here? 

And come she did, leaving Sadness alone with Panic. Oh well. At last it wouldn’t take long. 

And indeed, it  _ didn’t. _ A huge shovel scooped Hatred up, and casually swooped her off the edge. 

Aw,  _ come on,  _ Joy. I mean, yeah, tossing them out towards the Memory Dump, as Anger had just done with Rage,  _ was _ probably the best idea, but I wanted it to be dramatic, dammit! I even asked for a nice song for this part, and then  _ you _ come and...Alright, I’ll  _ stop.  _ But I’ll get back at you someday for that, Joy. Someday.

And then Sadness flew backward, screaming. I guess we all had a bit of an “Oh, Crap!” moment there, but thankfully she didn’t fall off the Train and only left a Sadness-shaped dent in the wall before falling to the floor. 

I think I’ll tell the Mind Workers  _ not  _ to clean that one up. It looks a tad funny, if you ignore the circumstances in which it was made, especially because then Panic rushed over to pick her up…

And we all saw something we’d  _ all  _ wish to unsee.

As soon as he  _ brushed _ her with his fingertips, a deafening roar came from Joy, and Panic was instantly trapped in a shimmering, yellow box. 

Now, if that had been it, and Joy would have just dumped him, it would have been alright. We’d have congratulated her, helped Sadness back to her feet, and relaxed for the rest of the journey home. 

But that  _ wasn’t  _ it. I watched in horror as Joy muttered something under her breath, and two cylinders - _ spiked _ cylinders, mind you- materialised above his empty eye sockets. 

-J-Joy?- Sadness asked. -What are you doing?

- _ Justice.- _ She said, and drove the cylinders straight into his eye sockets, where they started expanding, and…

You know, I’m not going to tell you what happened to him. All you have to know is that he was screaming, and we were much too stunned to do anything else than watch, and that I still have nightmares about it.

What I  _ can  _ tell you, however, is that Joy was  _ snapping _ . All the stress she’d been under for the night was finally taking its toll on her, and she was unleashing it on who she thought was Nico’s torturer. Because, honestly,  _ who else _ would deserve that?

-Er, Joy, stop.-Fear said, covering his eyes.-Please.

She ignored him, instead starting to close the walls in on Panic , who had long ago lost the ability to scream, because Joy had cut his vocal cords. 

- _ Stop it, Joy! - _ I said.- Can’t you see you’re  _ torturing him _ , you  _ maniac! _

For some reason, she stopped. Must have hit a sweet spot there. 

Anyway, she dropped poor Panic on the floor, where he just stood like a dead weight, or at least tried to do so before she roundhouse kicked him into oblivion.

She looked at us, clearly seeing our looks of disappointment. Of course, Nico would never know about this... _ incident. _ It would be our only secret,  _ for his own good. _ He’d understand.

-I…-Joy started, but Anger cut her short.

- _ This one time, Joy. This. One. Time. _

She sighed, out of either relief or tiredness, I don’t know which.

-I just thought...he deserved it, and then I just...lost control. I...I don’t know what happened there, I just....excuse me.

And with that, she dashed out of our compartment and into the one behind us.

I don’t know for sure, but I think I heard her scream. A lot. But hey, she’d been through a lot that night. She’d seen her home destroyed, her favourite place on  _ both  _ worlds destroyed, one of her lifelong friends impaled, who-knows-what in the Subconscious, she couldn’t stop the Evil Emotions torturing Nico, almost  _ became Mania _ , saw Nico die not once but possibly  _ twice _ , and had spent more energy making things than she’d spent in her entire life.

In other words, she was well,  _ well _ , over the edge. I’ll tell you, she hasn’t been the same since that day. Now she’s more cautious,  _ fiercely _ protective of all of us, and  _ especially  _ of Nico and her eternal spot on Dream Duty. 

She  _ hasn’t slept _ since the incident, and it’s been  _ six months. _

She emerged from the module with her feet wet, her dress torn at the edge, and her eyes bloodshot.

None of us asked her what had happened there. We already knew. We simply waited the rest of the journey in silence, occasionally shooting her a reassuring glance to let her know we were on her side.

Because, after all, we’d won, right? The Evil Emotions were all in the Memory Dump, the Subconscious was clear, there was just nothing left to kill. 

We’d won.

I had just started to laugh, out of pure delight, when the bell sounded.

We had arrived at Headquarters at last.

* * *

_ A few moments earlier… _

* * *

 

**NICO**

SCHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSTTTT!!!!!

Now I’ve done it! Now I’ve screwed up in here, and because of that we’re  _ all gonna bloody die!  _ Schist!

Alright, perhaps it isn’t going to be so bad. Perhaps. Maybe. All right, it’s gonna be  _ very bad _ . Catastrophic. Disastrous!

Unless, of course, I can stop a two kilometer, eight-metres-per-second fall with only a serial killer gal in my hands. 

Schist. Looks bleak, doesn’t it?

No it doesn’t. I know the answer. It is...Emergency Teleport Time!

Alright then, think hard of Headquarters  and cancel out the inertia ...think hard...no, Nico, _ harder… _

It’s not working! It’s not working, and I’m seriously going to die, for real this time!

I swallow back a sob. I shouldn’t be dying now. This isn’t like last time, when I had Joy beside me to help me keep my cool.

This time around, there is no one to comfort me as I plunge into the abyss. There probably won’t even be a body left to bury...

I start thinking of Headquarters again, but in a different light this time. I think of all the nice times I spent there, playing cards with my Emotions, making stories, even checking out memory orbs...and decide that those aren’t  bad thoughts to end my life with.

The ground is closing in. I close my eyes, ready for the upcoming splat…

_ Home _ .

The word falls in my mind unannounced. Of course. All this time, I’ve tried to teleport to Headquarters, when where I really want to go is…

_ Home. Take me...take me home. _

Just as I can make out the memory orbs below us, I feel a jolt and the entire world goes black.

* * *

 

**NICO**

Teleportation is disorienting. 

See, when you teleport, you don’t just disappear from a place and reappear somewhere else. It’s a bit more complicated than that, but don’t worry. I won’t explain. It’s not what matters. I’ve  _ won _ . I beat her. Most likely she went splat on the Memory Dump, where all her little friends should be. 

Wow. I mean,  _ wow _ . It’s over. It’s  _ finally over!  _ I’m safe! I’m safe , I’m...ACK!

No, I’m not safe. She’s here. With me. Because I teleported her with me. 

Stuuuuuuuuuuuuuuupppppiiiiiiiiiiidddddddd. Why didn’t I just think of that? Come  _ on _ , I could have thought of that if I just had a little more  _ time! _

But it’s too late now. She has me locked in her embrace, and is only using one arm to hold me in leaving the other free to do...something. I’ll find out soon enough. I struggle, fruitlessly of course. She starts laughing. 

“D’aaaw, come  _ on,  _ Nico. Or would you  _ like me-  _ She yanks my head further back, so that I can see the roof-To  _ get a better grip?” _

I feel her orange, beautiful hand crawling down my forehead, my eyebrows, around my eyes...and then…

-Thanks for the free trip,  _ Nico. _

_ No. No...no! Stop! I’ll, I’ll… _

_ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! _

* * *

**NICO**

_ Theme:  _ [ **_Antigravity_ ** ](https://youtu.be/3O7oCnMiLSs) _ , by Starset.  _

Everything was red. Even the red was red. I couldn’t see  _ anything  _ that wasn’t red. 

Was I dead? I didn’t know. All I knew was that my head  _ hurt _ , somehow even more than when I was in that little psych ward room. 

Something knocked me to the floor. Maybe it had been Mania, or perhaps it had been just me. I don’t know. But if there was a floor, it  _ had _ to mean I was in Headquarters. Which meant I was alive. Which meant I had to keep on fighting.

I got up, somehow. I still couldn’t see, but it didn’t matter. I  _ knew _ Headquarters. I may have been blind, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t use my other senses. 

Behind me, I could feel the faint heat of memory orbs. I prodded behind me, and found a wall. In front, my foot found the Core Memory holder. Something was weird with it-it felt strangely cold-, but then I heard steps. To my right. And to my right was…

Oh, SCHIST.

The Console. Mania was after the Console. Could she work it? I didn’t know. Most probably yes, or she wouldn’t have gotten into the Train to Headquarters. Train which was in motion, by the way. I could hear its rhythmic  _ ka-chunk  _ behind me, getting closer every second. But that didn’t matter. I had to stop Mania.

I raised my arm in the general direction of the Console. A futile gesture. The odds of hitting her were, let’s see…

Every lightning bolt I throw is a cylinder with roughly 10 centimetres wide, and the area I was trying to hit was a rectangle 2 metres tall and 8 wide, and Mania was 2.1 tall and approximately 30 or 40 centimetres wide…

**OBSCENE AMOUNTS OF MATH REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR.**

My odds of hitting her were  _ not good.  _ There  _ had  _ to be some other way, and I had to find it,  _ fast _ . I could already hear her pushing buttons at random. I started to feel lightheaded. 

She was trying to wake me up. 

It made sense, really. Doing so would remove me from the fight for a  _ long _ time, and, if she could work the Console, she could at least try to do some harm. 

The Train was getting closer by the second. I had to think fast. 

And then the answer came to me. It was so simple, really. 

I just needed to do some  _ hijacking _ . 

I got to it quickly, imagining a whitish colour taking over the Console, much like Gloom had done years ago. I imagined it taking over completely, and then handing control to  _ me _ .  _ Personally. _ Fear would never approve, but this was an emergency. He’d understand (I hope).

The button presses stopped. I heard more footsteps, and somehow even  _ felt  _ her cold, steely gaze as she said:

-What are you trying to do? Are you  _ seriously  _ trying to stop me? After I tore out your eyes? Good luck with that,  _ Nico.  _ You’ll need it. Because if you even  _ think  _ of stalling me until the rest of your gang of idiots arrives, then I’ll just have to...

She didn’t need to finish her threat. I knew what she’d say. She knew that I knew. It was all a matter of how long I could hold the hijack for before she inevitably killed me. 

I didn’t answer. She didn’t answer. We started circling one another, both waiting for each other’s move. 

I knew that I was going to die. I knew it at my very soul. But somehow that wasn’t sad. It was, in a strange sense,  _ fulfilling _ . I would die defending my  _ home _ , god dammit, even if it was falling to pieces around me. I might have been afraid of zombies and Mania once, but I’ve  _ never _ been scared of death!

Even if I couldn’t see her, I knew where she was. The broken glass sounds sort of clued me in. And then I formed a plan. An unlikely and extremely dangerous plan, but a plan after all. 

See, I couldn’t hit her with my standard lightning bolts. She was much too quick. But the glass below her was static, and if I scored a hit on a sufficiently large shard, it would explode, sending buckshot all over the place. At that distance, it had better odds of scoring a hit on her than a direct attack would.

I didn’t have much time. If she got out of the window area, it was game over. If there was not a large enough shard, it was also game over. But if the sounds of broken glass stopped and I didn’t feel the heat of memory orbs at my back…

I waited, still circling around her. None of us said a word. We didn’t  _ need  _ to. After all, no one can hate you with so much intensity as someone who used to love you. And that’s exactly what had happened with us. Or  _ would have _ happened, if she is indeed a possible future version of Joy. 

I still had the Console behind me. I could  _ feel  _ it. Mania was still standing on little pieces of broken glass.

Until…

**Thump.**

I stretched out my arms, and fired a bolt right at where she was standing. That sound  _ had  _ to be a large piece of broken glass. There was simply no other possible option. 

The scream and buckshot told me my plan had been a success. And about the buckshot, I knew about it because a bit got embedded in my leg. It hurt, but not too much, and it was acting as a plug for most of the blood loss.

I marched forward, arm still outstretched. I heard Mania trying to get up, but I knew she knew she didn’t have time. I shot a lightning bolt into what I thought it was her head, and she collapsed.

I guess I should have whooped, or at least said a clever one-liner. But I didn’t do any of that. Noooo. I grabbed her by the leg, and started pulling her towards the window.

I was  _ mad _ at her. Need I say why? She tortured me, tried to brainwash me, blinded me, tried to kill my friends, tried to wake me up, and stole my shoes.

Speaking of shoes, I took them off of her. They were  _ my  _ shoes, dammit. I wasn’t going to let her keep them any longer. They were my shoes. I  _ like _ my shoes.

I got to the window, finally. I would have gotten there even if she had weighed a thousand tons. It didn’t matter. I lifted her unconscious body above my head, feeling it surprisingly light.

I had the need for a clever one-liner. I dunno why, I just  _ had  _ it. Luckily, the answer came back to me quickly. It was quick, it was fitting, it was clever. All I needed to do was say it.

_ Bangarang, motherfucker. _

-Goodbye,  _ Mania.  _

I threw her out. Had I had the power of sight, I would have watched her disappear into the abyss. But I didn’t. I went back towards the Console and un-hijacked it. The less explanations I had to give, the better. Especially if it concerned…

Oh, no.

My eyes.

I don’t know how they looked, but they were probably a mess. I couldn’t let the others see me like that. I ran towards Fear’s locker, hoping to find another one of those cure-all pills, but I found nothing.

In his room-nothing. Schist.

I had just made it back to the main room when the door opened and Disgust stepped inside, her expression of joy slowly turning into horror when she saw me sitting against a wall, hiding my head behind my legs.

* * *

 

**NICO**

_ Theme:  _ [ **_Monster_ ** ](https://youtu.be/hyfV0GBe18w) _ , by Starset (Yes, AGAIN.) _

_ Crap. _

_ How are they gonna react?  _ I thought as the rest of them made it back inside Headquarters.

-We’re back!- Fear said. 

-Finally…- Sadness replied.

A feeling of rage started growing inside me. Couldn’t they  _ see  _ me? I was only crouching behind the idea shelf. It was not like there wasn’t a very scary pool of blood below my leg, and, you know,  _ like I didn’t have any freaking  _ **_eyes_ ** _ anymore, right?  _ Nooooo, they wouldn’t  _ understand _ , with their stupid indestructible bodies and perfectly-functioning eyes. They just wouldn’t  _ understand. _

I wanted to scream, but a part of me didn’t want the others to see me like that. I’d just try to hide it for as long as possible.

Also, the shock was getting back to me. My brain seemed to just have started to register that it had been stabbed, beaten, tortured, strangled, blinded,  _ killed _ , and what many more. 

It started reacting as usual. With a headache. And also with a whole lot of nervousness. My arms started trembling. My  _ lips _ trembled. It was only a matter of time before...

-HEY! - Disgust seemed to have recovered enough to move. Good for her. -Nico. Behind the idea shelf. Bad.- she said.

sigh ...stupid telegram-speak.

It was super effective tough. In only a couple of seconds, I had gone from absolutely nothing to a medical crew of five little beings trying to stop the bleeding in my leg. As it turns out, duct tape and Mind Manual pages are quite useful as impromptu bandages. 

I didn’t let me see my eyes tough. That was for later.

-What happened, Nico?- Asked Sadness.

I didn’t respond. They had their ways of knowing. There should be glass  _ everywhere _ . But I guess they didn’t notice that,  _ did they? _

How ironic.

-...Nico? Are you all right?- She sounded worried. I still kept my mouth shut tough. I wasn’t going to tell her  _ anything _ , mostly because I still couldn’t believe it myself. Most probably, Mania was lurking around a corner somewhere, waiting for the time to strike. Bastard.

-Guuuyyyysss?- Disgust’s voice came from behind the wall. -You’d better come take a look at this.

Great, they had found  _ more glass! _

-Memory orbs- Anger said. What’s the matter with them? I’ve been seeing them for fifteen years, Disgust, and I tell you, there’s nothing wrong with them.

-You’re wrong, Anger. There are new ones. New ones of…- I heard her pick one up. I’m not sure of what happened next, but I think I heard her scream. 

But nothing today had been scream-worthy…

_ OH,  _ **_CRAP._ **

Apparently Mania’s random button pushing hadn’t been exactly  _ random.  _ She must have pressed the  _ Make Memory  _ button, which created memories of…

-What’s it, Disgust?-Sadness asked, again.

_ -See for yourself. _

I heard her gasp. A few moments later, Joy said something about breaking me out of it. Which meant they were viewing memories from the psych ward. Good. As long as they didn’t get to the most recent ones…

I heard heels behind and to the left of me. Disgust was closing in for some questions, too. Fortunately, Fear called her back, mumbling something about teleporting.

Well, shit. They were going to find out anyway.

I stood up. I guess I had to show them for myself the mess I had become. I started walking towards the memory shelves.

-Wait, guys, I think this one is wrong- Joy said.

- _ getMemory.func  _ acting up again?- Fear asked.

-No, no, it’s the video on this one, it’s...gone, or something. 

- _ Gone?  _ C’mere, Joy, let me see...wait. This isn’t supposed to happen.  _ Disguuuuust,  _ we have a  _ problem! _

_ - _ What now, Fear?

-It’s this one. It doesn’t have video. Let’s see if replaying it...well, that’s odd.

-What do you mean by  _ odd,  _ nervy?

-It’s working now. But I can’t see...Nico’s not here. Heck, almost  _ nothing  _ is here. It’s almost like…

-Only the things Nico was interested in?-Sadness chimed in from outside.

-Yeah, maybe, but why would he...all right. Are there any more of these?

-Loads.- Anger said.

-Let’s check them then. 

I guess they sat down. I don’t care if they did. I think I was already in front of the window. Just a few more steps…

-Heh, nice one with the glass there, Nico. -Joy said.

-...Nico? You okay?- she added, obviously a bit nervous. It wasn’t normal of me to skip a question like that. She had only started to turn around when...

-Wait, Joy, I don’t think he’s okay. If things are not showing up on memories, and the video is malfunctioning, then that might mean that…-

They were about to turn towards me. I  _ knew  _ it. I would be in plain sight, and they would see the  _ thing  _ I had become with their own eyes. Their own,  _ very well-functioning  _ eyes.

I decided to go with it. I took a deep breath.

-Surprise.- I said, a sad tone in my voice.

Disgust retched. Anger spontaneously combusted his suit. Fear screamed. Joy and Sadness took a step back.

-Nico…

-What on Earth  _ happened  _ to you?

* * *

 

**SADNESS**

When I saw Nico, my heart plummeted. I couldn’t stand the  _ sight  _ of him. His eyes, they were...well, they were  _ gone _ .

Sigh...so much for getting through the night unscratched. 

He walked towards us, and I forced myself to keep my eyes trained on him. He  _ needed _ it, and besides, I think Magician was uglier...and perhaps a bit scarier.

-You want to know what happened to me?-he said-  _ Fine _ . I’ll tell. 

-After I fell from the Train, I somehow teleported here. Till that, everything alright. But then I realised...I had brought Mania with me. She was touching me. It made sense. And then when we got here...she caught me from behind, and, well...-He nodded upwards, as if to show us his eyes- This. 

-And then you threw her out. Somehow- Fear said, also holding his gaze. 

Mind you, he didn’t look that bad. Eyeless or not, he was still Nico. Also, his head seemed to be pointing at Joy, and he was frowning a bit, almost as if they were having a silent conversation...which they probably were having. We know each other  _ that  _ well.

But, anyway, we are reaching the end of the story.

To put it short, we still loved him, and he still loved us. Yeah, perhaps we hadn’t gotten here in time to rescue him, or spared him the psych ward (Which I still feel guilty about) but at least he was (mostly) ok.

And as he said, there was nothing a visit to Imagination Land couldn’t fix. Besides, they would need our help with the reconstruction efforts...if anyone else beyond Andrew survived, that is. Then that would most likely be a  _ he. _

But still, as we were heading towards the Train doors, I couldn’t help but notice…

-Guys? I think that…

-What, Sadness?- Fear said, looking around Headquarters for any signs of (another) catastrophe.

Unfortunately, he found one, almost at the same time I did…

He ran towards the Core Memory holder, and pulled it upwards.

It was empty.

It made sense, really. Nico was afraid of them going missing, so they had. That was bad. Especially since they were  _ so many… _

I will spare you the others’ reactions. We had a more urgent task.

We had to go out there, and find the Core Memories. One by one, if need be.

-I have a plan, guys! -Nico said, after recovering from his initial shock and fetching Anger yet  _ another  _ suit.- We go to Imagination Land. I grow back some eyes. Then, I make up some  _ Core Memory Locators.  _ Two memories each. Understand? Let’s go.- He headed back towards the Train, and hit his head on the doorframe.

Over the stream of cursewords, I heard Disgust saying:

“-Are you  _ sure  _ that plan will work, Nico?”

-Um, well,  _ no _ , Disgust. All I know is…

He didn’t finish the sentence. We climbed back onto the Train instead, and took a seat next to the doors.

The doors closed.

THAT THIS IS GONNA MAKE  **_ONE HELL OF A TALE WHEN I WAKE UP._ **


	5. Additional Link

A more complete, constantly revised version of the story, as well as the ongoing  _Part Ten_ can be found on [this](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c0W8foL_PlfvFhzd9QfgkpnSU7Ay_Aahnu2ySs-nVg0/edit?usp=drivesdk) google docs file.


End file.
